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CALIFORNIA   • 

SAN  DIEGO       \ 


pa 

r 

-si 


ESTHER  ATTEMPTS  TO  COMMIT  SUICIDE 
(Splendors  atid  Miseries. ) 


SCENE^  OF 

PARISIAN  LIFEfl 


HONORE  DE  BALZAC 


FIRST  VOLUME 
SPLENDORS    AND    MISERIES 


PHILADELPHIA 
THE   R1TTENHOUSE   PRESS 


-5-"  1RR 

copyright 


i8()5-t> 

GEORGE  BARRIE-S 


THE 

AUTHOR'S    PREFACE 


PREFACE. 

In  giving  the  title  of  THE  HUMAN  COMEDY  to  a 
work  in  which  I  have  been  engaged  for  nearly  thir- 
teen years,  I  feel  it  necessary  to  give  a  brief  explana- 
tion of  its  origin,  scope  and  plan,  and  to  attempt  this 
as  impartially  as  if  it  had  no  personal  interest  for  me. 
This  is  not  so  difficult  as  the  public  may  imagine. 
There  are  few  works  that  contribute  much  to  a  man's 
vanity,  and  much  labor  adds  to  his  share  of  modesty. 
This  observation  accounts  for  the  careful  examina- 
tion that  Corneille,  Moliere  and  other  great  authors 
made  of  their  own  compositions,  and  if  it  is  impossi- 
ble for  us  to  equal  their  lofty  conceptions,  we  may 
at  least  strive  to  imitate  them  in  this  characteristic. 

The  first  idea  of  THE  HUMAN  COMEDY  came  to 
me  like  a  dream,  an  impossible  project  which  I  wel- 
comed and  then  allowed  to  escape;  it  was  a  charm- 
ing fancy  that  showed  its  smiling  face  but  for  an  in- 
stant, and  spreading  its  wings  fluttered  back  into  a 
visionary  heaven.  Still,  fancy  often  changes  into 
fact  and  its  tyrannical  commands  cannot  be  resisted. 

The  idea  occurred  to  me,  in  consequence  of  a  com- 
parison between  the  human  and  animal  kingdoms. 

It  would  be  a  mistake  to  believe  that  the  great 
(iii) 


iv  PREFACE 

dispute  that  has  recently  arisen  between  Cuvier  and 
Geoffrey  Saint-Hilaire  rests  upon  the  ground  of  a 
scientific  innovation:  Unity  of  composition,  expressed 
in  other  terms,  occupied  the  greatest  minds  of  the 
two  preceding  centuries.  On  reading  over  the  ex- 
traordinary works  of  the  mystical  writers  who  have 
devoted  themselves  to  the  various  sciences,  consid- 
ered under  their  relation  to  the  infinite,  such  as 
Swedenborg,  Saint  Martin,  etc.,  and  the  books  of 
the  greatest  geniuses  in  natural  history,  such  as 
Leibnitz,  Buffon,  Charles  Bonnet,  etc.,  we  find  in 
the  monads  of  Leibnitz,  in  the  organic  molecules  of 
Buffon,  in  the  vegetative  force  of  Needham,  in  the 
perfect  adjustment  of  similar  parts  of  Charles 
Bonnet,  who  dared  to  write,  in  1760,  that  an  animal 
vegetates  like  a  plant;  in  all  these,  I  say,  we  find  the 
rudiments  of  the  great  law  of  each  for  himself,  upon 
which  the  unify  of  composition  depends.  There  is  but 
one  single  animal.  The  Creator  has  employed  but 
one  and  the  same  model  for  all  organic  beings.  It  is 
the  principle  of  animal  life  that  each  creature  should 
borrow  its  external  form,  or,  to  speak  more  exactly, 
the  differences  of  its  form,  from  the  environment 
in  which  it  is  destined  to  become  developed.  The  zoo- 
logical species  result  from  these  differences.  The  pro- 
mulgation and  maintenance  of  this  system,  that  is 
moreover  in  harmony  with  our  ideas  of  divine  power, 
will  do  eternal  honor  to  Geoffroy  Saint-Hillaire, 


PREFACE  V 

who  surpassed  Cuvier  on  this  high  scientific 
ground,  and  whose  triumph  was  acknowledged  by 
the  great  Goethe  in  the  last  article  which  he  wrote. 
Far  more  deeply  impressed  by  this  system  than 
by  the  discussions  to  which  it  has  given  rise,  I  saw, 
that,  in  this  respect,  society  resembled  nature. 
Does  not  society  make  of  man,  in  accordance  with 
the  environment  in  which  he  lives  and  moves,  as 
many  different  kinds  of  men  as  there  are  different 
zoological  varieties?  The  differences  between  a 
soldier,  an  artisan,  an  administrator,  a  lawyer,  an 
idler,  a  scholar,  a  statesman,  a  merchant,  a  sailor 
a  poet,  a  pauper  and  a  priest,  though  more  diffi- 
cult to  understand,  are  quite  as  considerable  as 
those  that  distinguish  the  wolf,  the  lion,  the  ass, 
the  crow,  the  shark,  the  seal  and  the  sheep. 
There  have,  therefore,  existed,  and  will  always 
exist,  social  species,  just  as  there  are  zoological 
species.  Since  Buffon  wrote  his  magnificent  work, 
in  which  he  attempted  to  include  the  whole  of 
zoology  in  the  compass  of  one  book,  was  not  there 
something  of  the  same  kind  to  accomplish  in  behalf 
of  society?  Between  the  different  species  of  the 
animal  kingdom,  nature  has  set  bounds  which  do 
not  exist  in  human  society.  When  Buffon  described 
a  lion,  he  needed  but  few  additional  words  to  draw 
the  picture  of  a  lioness;  whereas,  in  society,  a 
woman  is  not  always  the  female  of  the  male.  In 


Vi  PREFACE 

one  household  there  can  exist  two  perfectly  dissimi- 
lar beings.  A  shop-keeper's  wife  is  sometimes 
worthy  of  a  prince,  while  a  prince's  wife  may  not 
be  the  equal  of  a  poor  artist's.  The  social  state  is 
subject  to  possibilities  that  are  not  to  be  found  in 
nature,  for  it  is  nature  plus  society.  The  descrip- 
tion of  social  species  is,  therefore,  at  least  twice  as 
complex  as  that  of  animal  species,  under  the  aspect 
of  the  two  sexes  alone.  Lastly,  there  is  no  confu- 
sion in  the  life  of  animals,  and  few  dramas  take 
place  among  them;  they  merely  pursue  and  attack 
one  another.  Men  also  pursue  one  another,  but  the 
greater  or  less  degree  of  intelligence  they  possess 
renders  the  combat  far  more  complicated.  Though 
some  men  of  science  do  not  as  yet  admit  that  a  great 
current  of  life  overflows  into  humanity  from  the  ani- 
mal kingdom,  it  is  certain  that  a  grocer  may  become 
peer  of  France,  and  that  a  nobleman  may  sink  into 
the  lowest  rank  of  society.  Moreover,  Buffon  has 
described  the  life  of  animals  as  extremely  simple. 
It  needs  but  few  accessories,  and  they  have  neither 
arts  nor  sciences;  whereas  man,  in  obedience  to  a 
still  undiscovered  law,  tends  to  represent  his  man- 
ners, life  and  thought  in  all  that  he  appropriates  to 
his  needs.  Although  Leuwenhoec,  Swammerdam, 
Spallanzani,  Reaumur,  Charles  Bonnet,  Muller,  Hal- 
ler,  and  other  patient  zoographers  have  shown  us  how 
interesting  the  habits  of  animals  are,  yet,  to  our  eyes 


PREFACE  Vil 

at  least,  the  ways  of  every  animal  appear  to  be  the 
same  at  all  periods;  whereas  the  habits,  dress,  words 
and  houses  of  a  prince,  a  banker,  an  artist,  a  bour- 
geois, a  priest  and  a  pauper  are  entirely  dissimilar 
and  change  with  each  successive  civilization. 

Thus,  the  work  to  be  written  required  a  triple 
form:  men,  women  and  things — that  is  to  say, 
human  beings  and  the  material  representation  they 
give  to  their  mode  of  thought;  in  short,  man  and  his 
life. 

In  reading  the  dry  and  repellant  nomenclatures  of 
facts  that  are  called  histories,  who  has  not  observed 
that  the  writers  of  all  times  and  all  countries,  in 
Egypt,  Persia,  Greece  and  Rome,  have  forgotten  to 
give  us  an  account  of  the  customs  of  the  people? 
The  fragment  of  Petronius  on  the  private  life  of  the 
Romans  does  more  to  irritate  than  to  satisfy  our 
curiosity.  The  Abbe  Barthelemy  remarked  this 
immense  lacuna  in  the  field  of  history,  and  devoted 
his  life  to  reconstructing  the  manners  of  Greece  in 
his  Anacharsis. 

But  how  could  I  hope  to  give  interest  to  the  drama 
of  three  or  four  thousand  persons  that  a  single  society 
presents?  How  could  I,  at  the  same  time,  please 
the  poet,  the  philosopher,  and  the  masses  who  insist 
upon  receiving  their  poetry  and  philosophy  through 
the  medium  of  striking  images?  I  conceived  the 
importance  and  the  poetry  of  the  history  of  the 


Viii  PREFACE 

human  heart,  but  I  saw  no  means  of  realizing  my 
scheme;  for,  up  to  our  own  time,  the  most  famous 
story-tellers  had  lavished  their  talents  upon  creating 
one  or  two  typical  characters,  and  painting  one  side 
of  life.  It  was  with  this  thought  in  mind  that  I  read 
the  works  of  Sir  Walter  Scott,  the  modern  trouba- 
dour, who  was  at  that  time  endowing  with  enormous 
charm  a  species  of  composition  that  has  been  un- 
justly called  secondary.  Is  it  not  in  reality  more 
difficult  to  compete  with  nature  in  drawing  such 
pictures  as  Daphnis  and  Chloe,  Roland,  Amadis, 
Panurge,  Don  Quixote,  Manon  Lescaut,  Clarissa,  Love- 
lace, Robinson  Crusoe,  Gil  Bias,  Ossian,  Julie 
d'Etanges,  Uncle  Toby,  Werther,  Rene,  Corinne, 
Adolphe,  Paul  and  Virginia,  Jeanie  Deans,  Clover- 
house,  harihoe,  Manfred  and  Mignon,  than  to 
marshal  an  array  of  facts  that  are  much  the  same  in 
all  countries,  to  study  the  meaning  of  laws  that 
have  fallen  into  disuse,  to  draw  up  theories  that 
bewilder  nations,  or,  after  the  fashion  of  metaphy- 
sicians, to  explain  the  nature  of  being?  In  the  first 
place,  almost  all  these  characters,  whose  existence 
is  longer  and  more  real  than  that  of  the  generations 
from  the  midst  of  which  they  spring,  live  only  on 
condition  of  offering  a  faithful  image  of  the  present. 
Conceived  in  the  vitals  of  their  century,  they  are 
throbbing  with  the  pulsations  of  the  human  heart, 
and  often  contain  a  whole  system  of  philosophy. 


PREFACE  be 

Sir  Walter  Scott,  therefore,  raised  the  novel  to  the 
philosophic  value  of  history;  the  novel — the  branch 
of  literature  that,  through  all  the  centuries,  has 
incrusted  with  imperishable  diamonds  the  poetic 
crown  of  those  countries  which  have  cultivated 
letters.  He  infused  into  it  the  true  spirit  of  the 
ancients,  combining  within  its  limits  drama,  dialogue, 
description,  and  both  portrait  and  landscape  painting; 
he  conferred  upon  it  the  two  elements  of  an  epic, 
the  true  and  the  marvelous,  and  gave  it  poetry  in 
the  familiar  disguise  of  the  humblest  dialects.  But 
as  he  had  not  invented  a  system,  but  had  rather 
acquired  his  method  in  the  heat  of  his  inspiration 
and  the  logic  of  his  work,  it  had  not  occurred  to  him 
to  bind  his  stories  each  to  each,  so  as  to  make  them 
into  one  complete  history,  every  chapter  of  which 
should  be  a  novel,  and  every  novel  an  epoch.  On 
observing  this  want  of  connection,  which,  however, 
robs  Sir  Walter  Scott  of  nothing  of  his  greatness,  I 
perceived  at  the  same  time  the  system  best  adapted 
to  the  execution  of  my  work,  and  the  possibility  of 
executing  it.  Although  I  may  say  that  I  was  dazzled 
by  the  astounding  invention  of  Sir  Walter  Scott, 
who  is  always  original,  and  never  falls  below  his 
own  level,  I  did  not  despair,  for  I  discovered  that 
the  root  of  his  talent  lay  in  the  infinite  variety  of 
human  nature.  Chance  is  the  greatest  romancer  in 
the  world,  and  a  man  has  but  to  study  it  to  be  gifted 


X  PREFACE 

with  invention.  French  society  was  to  be  the  his- 
torian, and  I  but  the  secretary.  By  taking  an 
inventory  of  virtues  and  vices,  by  collecting  signal 
examples  of  passion,  and  by  painting  from  life,  by 
making  a  selection  from  the  chief  social  events  of 
the  time,  and  by  composing  types  made  up  of  traits 
taken  from  several  homogeneous  characters,  I 
thought  I  might  succeed  in  writing  the  history  of 
human  manners  that  has  been  forgotten  by  so  many 
historians.  Thus,  by  patience  and  perseverance, 
1  might  be  able  to  realize  for  France  in  the  nine- 
teenth century,  the  book  we  so  much  regret,  that 
Rome,  Athens,  Tyre,  Memphis,  Persia  and  India 
have  not  left  us  to  tell  us  of  their  civilizations;  the 
same  work  as  that  which,  after  the  example  of  the 
Abbe  Barthelemy,  the  brave  and  patient  Monteil 
attempted,  in  a  less  attractive  form,  on  the  subject 
of  the  Middle  Ages. 

Still,  all  this  was  nothing.  By  confining  himself 
to  the  most  rigorous  reproduction,  a  writer  might 
be  more  or  less  faithful,  more  or  less  successful, 
patient  or  daring  as  a  painter  of  human  types;  he 
might  be  the  narrator  of  the  dramas  of  private  life, 
and  the  archeologist  of  social  furnishings;  he  might 
catalogue  the  various  professions  and  keep  a  record 
of  good  and  evil;  but  to  deserve  the  praise  that 
every  artist  must  be  ambitious  of  receiving,  was  it 
not  necessary  for  me  to  study  the  cause  or  causes 


PREFACE  Xl 

of  social  effect,  and  to  apprehend  the  meaning  hid- 
den under  this  immense  mass  of  figures,  passions 
and  events  ?  And  after  having  sought,  even  if 
without  success,  the  cause  that  is  the  motor  of  the 
whole  social  machine,  was  I  not  called  upon  to  con- 
sider the  principles  of  nature,  and  to  discover 
wherein  human  society  approaches  the  eternal  law 
of  beauty  and  truth,  and  wherein  it  strays  from  it. 
In  spite  of  the  extent  of  the  premises  which  alone 
might  constitute  a  work,  a  conclusion  would  still  be 
required  for  the  completion  of  my  design.  Thus 
described,  society  would  itself  bear  witness  to  the 
cause  of  its  own  advance. 

The  law  that  makes  a  writer  what  he  is,  and,  as 
I  am  not  afraid  to  say,  renders  him  the  equal  and 
perhaps  the  superior  of  the  statesman,  is  the  settled 
opinion  he  holds  concerning  human  affairs,  and  his 
absolute  devotion  to  fixed  principles.  Machiavelli, 
Hobbes,  Bossuet,  Leibnitz,  Kant,  and  Montesquieu 
provide  the  science  which  statesmen  are  to  apply. 
"A  writer  should  have  decided  belief  in  politics  and 
morals,  and  should  regard  himself  as  a  teacher  of 
men;  for  men  have  no  need  of  masters  to  learn  how  to 
doubt,"  said  Bonald.  I  took  these  great  words  early 
for  my  guide;  they  are  the  law  of  the  monarchical 
writer  no  less  than  of  the  democratic  writer.  There- 
fore, when  people  shall  attempt  to  find  me  in- 
volved in  contradictions,  it  will  be  discovered  that 


Xii  PREFACE 

they  have  misinterpreted  some  sarcasm  of  mine,  or 
turned  against  me  the  speech  of  one  of  my  charac- 
ters, as  slanderers  are  fond  of  doing.  As  to  the 
inner  meaning  and  soul  of  my  work,  I  give  its  fun- 
damental principles  as  follows: 

Man  is  neither  good  nor  evil,  but  is  born  with  in- 
stincts and  aptitudes;  society,  far  from  corrupting 
him,  as  Rousseau  thought,  improves  him  and  makes 
him  better,  but  self-interest  develops  his  evil  as  well 
as  his  good  inclinations.  Christianity,  and,  above 
all,  Catholicism,  as  I  have  said  in  the  Country  ^Doc- 
tor,  is  a  complete  system  for  the  repression  of  the 
depraved  tendencies  of  man,  and  the  greatest  ele- 
ment of  social  order. 

By  studying  attentively  a  picture  of  society,  taken 
as  it  were  from  life,  with  all  its  good  and  all  its 
evil,  we  learn  the  lesson  that  if  thought,  or  pas- 
sion, which  includes  both  thought  and  feeling,  is 
the  social  element,  it  is  also  the  destructive  ele- 
ment. In  this,  the  life  of  society  resembles  the 
life  of  man,  inasmuch  as  a  race  acquires  lon- 
gevity on  condition  of  moderating  its  vital  action. 
Instruction,  or  rather  education  by  means  of 
religious  bodies,  is  consequently  the  great  princi- 
ple of  a  people's  existence,  and  the  sole  means 
of  diminishing  the  sum  of  evil  and  augmenting  the 
sum  of  good  in  every  society.  Thought,  the  origin 
of  good  and  ill,  can  be  qualified,  ruled  and  directed 


PREFACE  Xiii 

by  religion  alone.  The  only  possible  religion  is 
Christianity.  (See  the  letter  written  from  Paris  in 
Louis  Lambert,  in  which  the  young  transcendental 
philosopher  explains,  with  reference  to  the  doctrine 
of  Swedenborg,  that  there  has  never  been  but  one 
religion  since  the  beginning  of  the  world.)  Christi- 
anity has  created  the  modern  nations,  and  will  pre- 
serve them.  From  this  the  monarchical  principle 
necessarily  results.  Catholicism  and  kingship  are 
twin  principles,  but  in  regard  to  the  limits  within 
which  they  should  be  confined  in  order  to  restrain 
them  from  absolute  development,  it  is  plain  that  a 
preface  as  succinct  as  the  present  one,  should  not 
become  a  political  treatise.  Therefore  I  shall  enter 
into  neither  the  religious  nor  political  dissensions  of 
the  moment.  I  am  writing  by  the  light  of  two 
eternal  truths,  religion  and  monarchy,  which  are 
proclaimed  to  be  indispensable  by  contemporary 
events,  and  toward  which  every  writer  of  good  sense 
should  endeavor  to  recall  our  country.  Without 
being  an  enemy  of  the  elective  system,  which  I 
regard  as  an  excellent  constituent  principle  of  law, 
I  oppose  it  considered  as  the  only  social  method; 
above  all,  when  it  is  as  ill-organized  as  it  is  to-day, 
for  it  does  not  even  represent  an  imposing  minority, 
the  ideas  and  interests  of  which  a  monarchical  gov- 
ernment would  be  obliged  to  respect.  The  elective 
system,  universally  applied,  leads  to  government 


XIV  PREFACE 

by  the  masses,  the  only  government  that  is  irre- 
sponsible, and  in  which  there  are  no  bounds  to 
tyranny,  for  it  is  called  the  law.  For  this  reason  I 
regard  the  family  and  not  the  individual  as  the  true 
element  of  society,  and  in  this  respect,  at  the  risk 
of  being  considered  retrograde,  I  place  myself  beside 
Bossuet  and  Bonald,  instead  of  allying  myself  to 
modern  innovators.  Since  the  elective  system  has 
become  the  only  social  method,  if  I  have  recourse 
to  it  myself,  no  contradiction  must  be  inferred  be- 
tween my  opinions  and  my  acts.  An  engineer  may 
announce  that  a  bridge  is  on  the  point  of  breaking 
down,  and  that  there  is  danger  in  crossing  it,  yet  he 
goes  over  it  himself  when  it  is  the  only  road  he  can 
take  to  town.  Napoleon  was  marvelously  success- 
ful in  adapting  the  elective  system  to  the  genius  of 
our  country,  and  the  least  important  deputies  of  the 
legislative  body  established  by  him  made  the  most 
famous  orators  of  the  Chambers  under  the  Restora- 
tion. No  Chamber  has  been  equal  to  the  legislative 
body,  if  we  compare  the  members  of  it  separately. 
The  elective  system  of  the  Empire  was  incontest- 
ably  the  better  of  the  two. 

This  declaration  will  strike  some  persons  as  proud 
and  pretentious;  they  will  quarrel  with  a  novel- 
writer  for  aspiring  to  be  an  historian,  and  will  ask  for 
an  explanation  of  his  scheme.  My  reply  is  that  I 
am  now  fulfilling  an  obligation.  The  work  I  have 


PREFACE  XV 

undertaken  will  have  the  length  of  a  history,  and  I 
am  bound  to  give  a  clear  interpretation,  hitherto 
unrevealed,  of  its  principles  and  morals. 

I  am  necessarily  forced  to  suppress  those  prefaces 
published  for  the  sake  of  replying  to  criticisms  of  an 
essentially  transient  nature,  and  will  quote  but  one 
observation  from  them. 

Those  writers  who  have  an  aim,  even  if  that  aim 
be  merely  a  return  to  such  principles  as  are  to  be 
found  in  the  past  by  reason  of  their  eternal  truth, 
are  always  expected  to  clear  the  ground.  If  a  man 
carry  a  stone  into  the  domain  of  ideas,  if  he  call 
attention  to  an  abuse,  or  if  he  set  a  mark  on  an  evil 
in  order  to  facilitate  its  removal,  he  must  perforce 
be  regarded  as  immoral.  The  reproach  of  immoral- 
ity, which  a  courageous  writer  has  never  failed  to 
receive,  is  moreover  the  last  that  remains  to  be 
addressed  to  a  poet,  when  everything  else  has  been 
said  to  him.  If  your  pictures  of  life  are  true;  if,  by 
dint  of  toiling  day  and  night,  you  succeed  in  writing 
the  most  difficult  language  in  the  world,  the  imputa- 
tion of  immorality  will  be  cast  in  your  face.  Socrates 
was  immoral,  Jesus  Christ  was  immoral,  and  both 
were  persecuted  in  the  name  of  the  societies  that 
they  were  endeavoring  to  overturn  or  to  reform. 
When  a  man  wants  to  annihilate  anybody  he  taxes 
him  with  immorality.  This  trick,  so  familiar  to 
rival  factions,  is  the  disgrace  of  those  who  employ 


XVI  PREFACE 

it.  Luther  and  Calvin  knew  well  what  they  were 
doing  when  they  injured  material  interests  by  using 
them  as  a  buckler!  So  it  is  that  their  day  is  past. 

By  copying  the  whole  of  society  and  reproducing 
it  in  all  its  tumultuous  agitation,  it  must  inevitably 
result  that  a  composition  should  exhibit  more  evil 
than  good,  and  that  part  of  the  fresco  should  repre- 
sent a  group  of  guilty  characters;  but  the  critic  im- 
mediately cries  out  on  immorality  without  calling 
attention  to  the  morality  inculcated  by  another  part 
of  the  -picture,  intended  as  a  complete  contrast  to 
the  first.  As  my  general  plan  was  unknown,  how- 
ever, I  could  the  more  readily  forgive  the  criticism  I 
received,  especially  as  it  is  as  impossible  to  prevent 
criticism  from  using  its  functions,  as  it  would  be  to 
stop  the  workings  of  sight,  speech  and  judgment. 
The  time  of  impartiality  has  not  yet  come  for  me. 
Besides,  the  author  who  has  not  made  up  his  mind 
to  undergo  the  fire  of  criticism  has  no  more  call  to 
write  than  a  traveler  has  to  set  out  upon  his  jour- 
ney in  expectation  that  the  skies  will  be  always 
clear.  On  this  point  I  have  still  to  observe  that  the 
most  conscientious  moralists  are  extremely  doubtful 
whether  society  can  show  as  many  good  as  bad 
actions,  but  in  the  picture  I  have  drawn  of  it  there 
are  more  virtuous  than  reprehensible  characters.  I 
have  made  all  errors,  sins  and  crimes,  from  the  most 
trifling  to  the  most  serious,  meet  with  punishment, 


PREFACE  XvH 

human  or  divine,  secret  or  public.  I  have  done 
better  than  the  historian,  for  I  am  freer  than  he. 
Cromwell  received  no  punishment  in  this  world 
except  that  inflicted  upon  him  in  imagination.  He 
is  still  the  subject  of  discussion  in  one  school  after 
another.  Bossuet  himself  treated  the  great  regicide 
with  deference.  William  of  Orange,  the  usurper, 
and  Hugh  Capet,  also  a  usurper,  died  full  of  days, 
without  being  troubled  with  more  doubts  and  fears 
than  Henri  IV.  or  Charles  I.  An  analysis  of  the 
lives  of  Catharine  II.  and  Louis  XIV.  would  prove 
them  to  be  utterly  destitute  of  moral  principle  were 
they  judged  from  the  standpoint  of  private  morality; 
for,  as  Napoleon  said,  for  kings  and  statesmen 
there  is  a  small  and  a  great  code  of  morals. 
The  Scenes  of  Political  Life  are  based  upon 
this  interesting  reflection.  It  is  not  the  law  of 
history  to  tend  toward  the  ideal  as  the  novel 
does.  History  is  or  should  be  what  it  was,  whereas 
the  novel  should  be  a  nobler  world,  as  was  said  by 
Madame  Necker,  one  of  the  most  distinguished  wits 
of  the  last  century.  But  the  novel  would  be  of  no 
value  if  the  details  of  the  august  falsehood  were  not 
correct.  Sir  Walter  Scott  was  obliged  to  conform 
to  the  ideas  of  a  country  that  was  essentially  hypo- 
critical, and  his  delineation  of  women  was  false,  as 
compared  with  nature,  because  his  models  were 
schismatics.  The  Protestant  woman  has  no  ideal. 


xviii  PREFACE 

She  may  be  chaste,  pure  and  virtuous,  but  she  is 
reserved  in  her  affections,  which  are  always  calm 
and  disciplined  as  if  she  were  fulfilling  a  duty.  It 
would  seem  that  the  Virgin  Mary  had  chilled  the 
hearts  of  the  sophists  who  banished  her  and  her 
treasures  of  mercy  from  heaven.  In  Protestantism 
there  is  nothing  further  for  a  woman  after  her  fall, 
but  in  the  Catholic  Church  she  is  exalted  by  the 
hope  of  pardon.  Consequently  there  is  but  one 
type  of  woman  for  the  Protestant  writer,  whereas 
the  Catholic  finds  a  new  woman  in  every  new  situ- 
ation. If  Sir  Walter  Scott  had  been  a  Catholic,  and 
had  set  himself  to  the  task  of  describing  truly  the 
different  and  successive  stages  of  society  in  Scot- 
land, perhaps  he,  who  drew  Effie  and  Alice — the 
only  characters  that,  in  later  life,  he  regretted  hav- 
ing created, — might  have  admitted  the  passions, 
with  all  the  sins  and  punishments  they  entail,  and 
all  the  virtues  that  repentance  teaches.  Human 
nature  is  made  up  of  passion,  without  which  religion, 
history,  romance,  and  art  would  be  useless. 

On  seeing  that  I  made  a  true  picture  of  the  many 
facts  I  had  collected,  some  people  have  been  so 
mistaken  as  to  imagine  me  a  votary  of  the  Panthe- 
istic school,  with  its  two  aspects  of  sensuality  and 
materialism.  But  they  may  be,  nay,  must  be, 
mistaken.  I  do  not  believe  in  the  indefinite  progress 
of  society;  I  believe  in  the  individual  progress  of 


PREFACE  xix 

man.  Those  who  maintain  that  I  consider  man  as 
a  finite  creature  are  strangely  deceived.  Seraphita, 
that  shows  the  workings  of  the  doctrine  of  the 
Christian  Buddha,  seems  to  me  to  furnish  a  suffi- 
cient answer  to  this  trifling  accusation  formerly 
advanced  against  me. 

In  some  portions  of  my  long  work  I  have  attempted 
to  bring  to  popular  notice  the  amazing  facts,  or,  I 
might  say,  the  marvels  of  electricity,  that  exerts  so 
incalculable  an  effect  upon  man;  but  how  should 
those  cerebral  and  nervous  phenomena,  proving  the 
existence  of  a  new  moral  world,  disturb  the  sure 
and  certain  relations  between  God  and  his  worlds? 
How  should  the  Catholic  dogmas  be  shaken  by 
them?  If,  by  indisputable  fact,  thought  is  one  day 
classed  among  those  fluids  which  are  known  only 
through  their  effects,  and  the  substance  of  which 
evades  our  senses,  however  intensified  by  mechani- 
cal contrivances,  it  will  be  the  same  thing  as  when 
Christopher  Columbus  observed  that  the  earth  was 
round,  or  when  Galileo  demonstrated  that  it  moved 
upon  its  axis.  Our  future  cannot  be  affected  by  it. 
Animal  magnetism  and  its  miracles,  with  which  I 
have  been  familiar  since  1820;  the  interesting 
researches  of  Gall,  the  successor  of  Lavater;  and 
all  those  who,  for  the  last  fifty  years,  have  been 
studying  thought  as  the  opticians  have  been  study- 
ing light,  that  may  be  called  akin  to  it,  are 


XX  PREFACE 

conclusive  in  favor  of  the  mystics,  who  are^the 
disciples  of  Saint  John  the  Apostle,  and  in  favor  of 
the  great  thinkers  who  have  established  the  spiritual 
world,  in  which  the  relations  between  man  and 
God  are  revealed. 

If  the  meaning  of  my  composition  be  well  under- 
stood, it  will  be  acknowledged  that  I  accord  to 
indubitable  facts  of  every-day  life,  whether  secret 
or  open,  to  the  acts  of  individual  existence,  and  to 
their  origin  and  cause,  the  same  importance  that, 
up  to  this  time,  historians  have  attached  to  the 
public  life  of  nations.  The  unknown  struggle 
between  Madame  de  Mortsauf  and  her  passion,  in  a 
valley  of  the  Indre,  is  perhaps  as  great  as  the  most 
glorious  of  battles  (The  Lily  of  the  Valley),  for  in  the 
battle  it  is  only  the  fame  of  a  conqueror  that  is  at 
stake,  whereas,  with  Madame  de  Mortsauf  it  is 
heaven  itself.  The  misfortunes  of  the  Birotteaus, 
the  priest  and  the  maker  of  perfumes,  seem  to  me 
the  type  of  those  of  humanity.  La  Fosseuse  (The 
Country  Doctor}  and  Madame  Graslin  (The  Village 
Priest}  are  like  all  women.  We  all  have  the  same 
troubles  every  day.  I  have  had  to  do  a  hundred 
times  what  Richardson  did  only  once.  Lovelace 
has  a  thousand  forms;  for  social  corruption  borrows 
the  colors  of  the  environment  in  which  it  is  de- 
veloped. On  the  other  hand,  Clarissa,  that  lovely 
picture  of  impassioned  virtue,  is  drawn  in  lines  of 


PREFACE  xxi 

hopeless  purity.  A  man  must  be  a  Raphael  to  draw 
many  Virgins,  and  perhaps,  in  this  respect,  literature 
is  beneath  the  level  of  painting.  It  may,  therefore, 
be  allowed  me  to  draw  attention  to  the  many  char- 
acters of  irreproachable  virtue  in  the  published! 
portions  of  my  work:  Pierrette  Lorrain,  Ursule 
Mirouet,  Constance  Birotteau,  laFosseuse,  Eugenie 
Grandet,  Marguerite  Clae's,  Pauline  de  Villenoix, 
Madame  Jules,  Madame  de  la  Chanterie,  Eve 
Chardon,  Mademoiselle  d'Esgrignon,  Madame  Fir- 
miani,  Agathe  Rouget,  Renee  de  Maucombe;  also 
many  less  important  characters,  who,  though  thrown 
into  less  conspicuous  relief  than  those  mentioned 
above,  offer  the  reader  the  same  example  of  domes- 
tic virtue.  Do  not  Joseph  Lebas,  Genestas,  Ben- 
assis,  the  priest  Bonnet,  the  doctor  Minoret, 
Pillerault,  David  Sechard,  the  two  Birotteaus,  the 
priest  Chaperon,  the  judge  Popinot,  Bourgeat,  the 
Sauviats,  the  Tascherons,  and  many  others  resolve 
the  difficult  literary  problem  of  making  a  virtuous 
character  interesting? 

It  was  no  trifling  task  to  paint  the  two  or  three 
thousand  salient  figures  of  the  age,  for,  after  all, 
that  is  the  number  of  types  presented  by  every 
generation,  and  contained  in  THE  HUMAN  COMEDY. 
This  multitude  of  figures,  characters  and  existences 
required  frames,  and,  if  the  expression  may  be 
forgiven  me,  galleries.  Hence,  as  is  known,  I 


xxii  PREFACE 

naturally  divided  my  work  into  SCENES  OF  PRIVATE 
LIFE,  PROVINCIAL  LIFE,  PARISIAN  LIFE,  POLITICAL 
LIFE,  MILITARY  AND  COUNTRY  LIFE.  In  these  six 
books  are  classified  all  the  STUDIES  OF  MANNERS 
AND  MORALS  that  make  up  the  general  history  of 
society,  or,  as  our  ancestors  would  have  said,  the 
collection  of  its  deeds  and  exploits.  The  six  books 
correspond,  moreover,  to  general  ideas.  Each  has 
its  own  sense  and  meaning,  and  formulates  an 
epoch  of  human  life.  I  shall  now  repeat  briefly 
what  was  written  after  an  inquiry  into  my  plan  by 
a  young  genius  too  early  lost  to  the  world  of  letters, 
Felix  Davin:  The  SCENES  OF  PRIVATE  LIFE  repre- 
sent childhood  and  youth  with  the  failings  peculiar 
to  those  two  periods  of  life,  and  the  SCENES  OF 
PROVINCIAL  LIFE  represent  the  age  of  passion, 
calculation,  self-interest  and  ambition.  The  SCENES 
OF  PARISIAN  LIFE  give  a  picture  of  the  tastes,  vices 
and  all  the  unbridled  tendencies  called  into  being 
by  the  customs  peculiar  to  a  great  capital,  in  which 
the  extremes  of  good  and  evil  meet.  Each  of  these 
three  parts  has  its  local  color:  the  social  antithesis 
of  Paris  and  the  provinces  furnished  me  with 
immense  resources.  Not  only  men,  but  also  the 
chief  events  of  life  are  expressed  by  types.  There 
are  situations  and  typical  phases  represented  in 
every  existence,  and  I  have  tried  to  be  especially 
exact  in  this  branch  of  my  subject.  I  have 


PREFACE  xxiii 

attempted  to  give  an  idea  of  the  different  parts  of 
my  beautiful  country.  My  book  has  its  geography 
as  well  as  its  genealogy  and  its  families,  its  places 
and  its  things,  its  people  and  its  facts;  as  it  has  its 
heraldry,  its  nobles  and  its  bourgeois,  its  artisans 
and  its  peasants,  its  politicians,  its  dandies,  and  its 
army — in  fact,  its  own  world. 

After  having  portrayed  social  life  in  these  three 
books,  it  still  remained  for  me  to  describe  the 
exceptional  existences  that  resume  the  interests  of 
some  or  all  of  those  who  are  in  any  respect  outside 
of  the  ordinary  law  of  life;  hence  the  SCENES  OF 
POLITICAL  LIFE.  Having  achieved  this  vast  picture 
of  society,  was  not  I  called  to  represent  it  also  in  a 
state  of  warfare,  bursting  its  bounds  either  for 
defence  or  conquest?  Therefore  I  wrote  the  SCENES 
OF  MILITARY  LIFE,  still  the  least  complete  portion 
of  my  work,  but  a  place  for  which  will  be  reserved 
in  this  edition,  so  that  it  may  be  included  in  it  when 
it  is  finished.  Finally,  the  SCENES  OF  COUNTRY 
LIFE  are,  so  to  speak,  the  evening  of  the  long  day, 
if  the  social  drama  may  be  so  named.  In  this  last 
book  are  to  be  found  the  purest  characters,  and  the 
application  of  the  great  principles  of  order,  wisdom 
and  morality. 

Such  is  the  foundation  of  tragedy  and  comedy  and 
their  dramatis  personce  that  underlies  the  PHILO- 
SOPHIC STUDIES,  the  second  part  of  this  work,  in 


XxiV  PREFACE 

which  the  social  means  to  every  end  are  discussed, 
and  the  ravages  of  thought  described,  sentiment  by 
sentiment.  The  first  book  of  this  series,  The  Shin 
of  the  Wild  Ass,  connects  the  STUDIES  OF  MANNERS 
AND  MORALS  with  the  PHILOSOPHIC  STUDIES  bv 
the  link  of  an  Oriental  fancy,  in  which  Life  itself  is 
represented  in  a  deadly  struggle  with  Desire,  the 
first  principle  of  every  passion. 

Above  these  are  the  ANALYTICAL  STUDIES,  but  I 
shall  say  nothing  about  them,  as  but  one  single  one 
has  been  published,  The  Physiology  of  Marriage. 

Later,  I  mean  to  add  to  this  two  other  works  of 
the  same  character.  First,  The  Pathology  of  Social 
Life]  then  The  Anatomy  of  Universities  and  the  Mono- 
graph of  Virtue. 

On  seeing  all  that  there  remains  for  me  to  do, 
some  one  may  say  of  me  what  my  editors  said: 
"May  God  grant  you  a  long  life!"  I  pray  only 
that  I  may  not  be  so  tormented  by  men  and  things 
as  I  have  been  since  I  embarked  in  this  terrific 
undertaking.  It  has  been  in  my  favor,  and  I  thank 
God  for  it,  that  the  greatest  geniuses  and  noblest 
characters  of  the  time,  and  with  them  sincere  friends, 
as  great  in  private  life  as  the  former  are  in  public 
life,  have  shaken  me  encouragingly  by  the  hand. 
And  why  should  not  I  acknowledge  that  friendship 
such  as  theirs,  and  the  testimonies  received  from 
time  to  time  from  strangers,  have  sustained  me  in 


PREFACE  XXV 

my  career,  protecting  me  against  myself  and  against 
the  unjust  attacks  of  others,  against  calumny  that 
has  too  often  pursued  me,  against  despondency  and 
against  the  too  sanguine  hope  that  is  so  often  taken 
for  inordinate  vanity.  I  had  resolved  to  meet  all, 
attacks  and  insults  with  impassive  stoicism,  but  on 
two  occasions  I  have  been  compelled  to  defend 
myself  against  cowardly  slander.  If  those  persons 
who  believe  that  all  injuries  should  be  forgiven 
regret  that  I  showed  my  powers  in  literary  fencing, 
there  are  some  Christians  who  think  that,  in  the 
time  we  live  in,  it  is  well  to  point  out  the  generosity 
of  silence. 

In  this  connection,  I  should  like  to  observe  that  I 
acknowledge  as  my  works  only  those  that  bear  my 
name.  Besides  the  HUMAN  COMEDY,  there  is 
nothing  of  mine  except  the  Hundred  Comic  Tales, 
two  plays,  and  some  separate  articles,  all  signed. 
I  am  now  availing  myself  of  an  incontestable  right, 
but  my  disavowal,  even  if  it  should  include  those 
works  in  which  I  have  had  some  share,  is  due  less 
to  vanity  than  to  a  regard  for  truth.  If  people 
persist  in  attributing  to  me  books  which,  from  a 
literary  point  of  view,  I  do  not  acknowledge  as  mine, 
but  with  the  copyright  of  which  I  have  been  en- 
trusted, I  shall  allow  them  to  say  what  they  please, 
for  the  same  reason  that  I  leave  the  field  free  to 
calumny. 


xxvi  PREFACE 

The  immensity  of  a  scheme  that  embraces  at  once 
the  history  and  the  criticism  of  society,  the  analysis 
of  its  evils  and  the  discussion  of  its  principles,  author- 
ized me,  I  believe,  to  give  my  work  the  title  of 
THE  HUMAN  COMEDY,  under  which  it  appears 
to-day.  Whether  it  is  too  ambitious,  or  only  just, 
the  public  must  decide  when  the  work  is  finished. 

PARIS,  July,  1842. 


THE  WAY  THAT    GIRLS    LOVE 


TO  HIS  HIGHNESS  THE  PRINCE  ALFONSO 
SER4FINO  Dl  PORCIA: 

Permit  me  to  place  your  name  before  a  work 
essentially  Parisian,  and  contemplated  in  your 
house  during  the  past  weeks.  Is  it  not  natural  to 
offer  you  flowers  of  eloquence  which  have  sprouted 
in  your  garden  and  been  watered  by  regrets  which 
brought  on  homesickness  that  you  have  soothed, 
when  I  wandered  beneath  the  boschetti  whose  oaks 
brought  back  to  my  mind  the  Champs-Elysees? 
Perhaps  by  this  means  I  may  redeem  the  crime  of 
having  dreamed  of  Paris  before  the  Duomo,  of 
having  longed  for  our  muddy  streets  on  the  clean 
and  neat  pavements  of  Porta  Renza.  When  I  shall 
have  several  volumes  ready  to  publish,  which  can  be 
dedicated  to  certain  of  the  Milanese,  I  shall  be  glad 
to  find  names  already  dear  to  the  old  Italian  story- 
tellers among  those  of  persons  whom  we  love  and 
in  memory  of  whom  I  ask  you  to  recall 

Yours  with  sincere  affection, 
,  1838.  DE  BALZAC. 


(O 


PART  FIRST 

THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE 
* 

In  1824,  at  the  last  ball  of  the  Opera,  many  mas- 
queraders  were  struck  with  the  beauty  of  a  young 
man  who  was  walking  up  and  down  the  corridors 
and  foyer,  with  the  appearance  of  a  person  in  search 
of  some  woman,  whom  unforeseen  circumstances 
had  kept  at  home.  The  secret  of  his  motions,  lazy 
and  hurried  by  turns,  is  known  only  to  some  old 
women  and  to  a  few  habitual  loafers.  In  this  vast 
meeting  ground  the  crowd  pays  little  heed  to  the 
crowd:  interests  are  intense;  idleness  itself  is  pre- 
occupied. The  young  dandy  was  so  completely 
absorbed  in  his  restless  search  that  he  did  not  per- 
ceive his  success;  the  exclamations  of  sarcastic 
admiration  from  some  masqueraders,  marks  of  gen- 
uine surprise,  gestures  of  derision,  soft  words,  he 
heard  them  not,  he  saw  them  not.  Although  his 
beauty  classed  him  among  those  exceptional  persons 
who  come  to  the  ball  of  the  Opera  in  search  of 
adventure,  and  who  wait  for  it  as  people  used  to 
wait  for  a  lucky  stroke  at  roulette,  while  Frascati 
was  alive,  he  appeared  to  be  vulgarly  confident  of 
his  evening's  success.  He  was  evidently  the  hero 

(3) 


4  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

of  one  of  those  dramas  of  three  characters  which 
compose  the  entire  masked  ball  at  the  Opera  and 
are  known  only  to  such  persons  as  play  their  parts; 
since,  for  young  women  who  go  simply  in  order 
to  say  "  I  have  seen  it,"  for  country  folk,  for  un- 
sophisticated young  people,  and  for  foreigners,  the 
Opera  must  be  the  palace  of  weariness  of  body 
and  mind.  To  them  this  black  throng,  slow  and 
crowded,  which  goes,  comes,  twines,  turns,  returns, 
mounts,  descends,  and  which  can  be  compared 
only  to  ants  on  a  wood-pile,  is  no  more  compre- 
hensible than  the  Exchange  is  to  a  Breton  peasant 
who  has  never  heard  of  a  ledger.  With  rare 
exceptions  men  in  Paris  do  not  mask  themselves. 
A  man  in  a  domino  looks  absurd.  Here  the  char- 
acter of  the  nation  is  strikingly  shown.  People 
who  are  anxious  to  hide  their  happiness  can  go 
to  the  ball  at  the  Opera  without  making  their  ap- 
pearance public,  and  the  masks  necessary  at  the 
door  disappear  at  once  within.  A  most  amusing 
sight  is  the  confusion  at  the  door  after  the  ball  has 
begun:  the  mass  of  people  making  their  exit  at  odds 
with  the  new-comers.  Then  the  masked  men  are 
jealous  husbands  come  to  spy  upon  their  wives,  or 
lucky  husbands  not  caring  to  be  spied  upon  by  them; 
two  situations  equally  ridiculous.  But,  though  he 
knew  it  not,  the  young  man  was  followed  by  a  fel- 
low in  a  murderous-looking  mask,  fat  and  short,  and 
lumbering  along  like  a  barrel.  To  the  habitue  of 
the  Opera,  this  domino  betrayed  a  manager,  an  agent 
on  Change,  a  banker,  a  notary,  some  bourgeois 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  5 

suspicious  of  his  unfaithful  wife.  In  truth,  in  the 
highest  society,  nobody  courts  humiliating  evidence. 
Several  masqueraders  had  already  pointed  mock- 
ingly at  this  monstrous-looking  personage;  others 
had  called  out  to  him;  some  youngsters  had  jeered 
at  him.  His  bearing  and  demeanor  showed  marked 
contempt  for  these  random  shots.  He  followed 
wherever  the  young  man  led,  like  a  hunted  boar 
who  cares  not  for  the  bullets  that  whistle  past  his 
ears  nor  the  dogs  that  bark  upon  his  trail. 

Although,  upon  their  first  arrival,  pleasure  and 
anxiety  had  donned  the  same  livery,  the  famous 
black  gown  of  Venice,  and  in  spite  of  the  confusion 
of  the  Opera  ball,  the  different  cliques  of  which 
Parisian  society  is  composed,  met,  greeted  one  an- 
other and  looked  about.  For  the  initiated  there  are 
inferences  so  accurate  that  this  magic  volume  can 
be  read  as  easily  as  an  amusing  novel. 

The  habitues  would  never  have  thought  this  man 
in  luck;  he  would  surely  have  worn  some  significant 
favor — red,  white,  or  green,  the  sign  of  some  former 
success  in  love.  Was  he  in  pursuit  of  revenge? 
As  they  watched  the  masked  figure  dogging  the 
steps  of  the  lucky  man,  several  idlers  gave  heed 
once  more  to  the  handsome  youth  about  whose  face 
joy  had  spread  her  divine  halo.  The  young  man 
attracted  more  and  more  attention;  the  more  he 
walked,  the  more  he  aroused  the  general  curiosity. 
Everything  about  him  displayed  habits  of  refine- 
ment. In  accordance  with  a  fatal  law  of  our 
epoch,  there  was  little  difference,  physical  or  moral, 


6  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

between  the  most  distinguished  the  most  well-bred 
son  of  a  duke  or  peer,  and  this  attractive  boy  who  had 
but  yesterday  been  clutched  by  the  iron  hand  of  pov- 
erty in  the  midst  of  Paris.  With  him,  youth  and 
beauty  could  hide  deep  gulfs  as  they  can  with  many 
young  men  who  are  ambitious  to  play  a  part  in 
Paris  without  possessing  the  capital  necessary  to 
support  their  pretensions,  and  who  every  day  risk 
all  for  all,  making  sacrifice  before  the  god  most 
worshiped  in  this  royal  city,  Chance — yet  his  dress 
and  manner  were  faultless.  He  trod  the  classic 
floor  of  the  foyer  like  a  man  accustomed  to  the  Opera 
from  his  youth.  Who  has  not  noticed  that  here, 
as  in  every  zone  of  Paris,  there  is  a  method  which 
reveals  who  you  are,  what  you  are  doing,  whence 
you  come,  and  what  you  wish? 

"  How  handsome  he  is!  I  can  turn  here  to  look 
at  him,"  said  a  masquerader  in  whom  the  habitues 
recognized  a  woman  of  fashion. 

"Don't  you  remember  him?"  answered  her 
cavalier.  "Yet  Madame  du  Chatelet  introduced  him 
to  you ." 

"What,  the  little  apothecary  whom  she  was  in 
love  with,  who  turned  journalist,  Mademoiselle 
Coralie's  lover? " 

"  I  thought  he  had  fallen  too  deep  ever  to  climb 
up  again,  and  I  can't  understand  how  he  can  appear 
once  more  in  Paris  society,"  said  Count  Sixte  du 
Chatelet. 

"He  has  the  air  of  a  prince,"  said  the  domino, 
"and  that  actress  with  whom  he  lived  never  gave  it 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  7 

to  him;  my  cousin,  who  found  him  out,  could  never 
have  scrubbed  him  so  clean.  I  should  like  to  know 
this  Sargine's  mistress.  Tell  me  something  about 
her  life  which  can  help  me  to  her  acquaintance." 

This  couple,  which  followed  the  young  man,  whis- 
pering as  they  went,  were  carefully  noted  by  the 
masquerader  with  the  square  shoulders. 

"  Dear  Mr.  Chardon,"  said  the  prefect  of  Charente, 
taking  the  dandy's  arm,  "  allow  me  to  present  you 
to  a  lady  who  wishes  to  renew  her  acquaintance 
with  you." 

"  Dear  Count  Chatelet,"  answered  the  young 
man,  "  this  lady  herself  has  taught  me  the  absurdity 
of  the  name  by  which  you  address  me.  A  royal 
prescript  has  restored  to  me  the  name  of  my  mother's 
ancestors,  the  Rubempres.  Though  the  newspapers 
have  announced  the  fact,  it  concerns  such  a  humble 
person  that  I  do  not  blush  to  recall  it  alike  to  friends, 
enemies  and  mere  acquaintances.  Class  yourself 
where  you  will,  but  I  am  sure  that  you  will  not  dis- 
approve a  step  to  which  I  was  advised  by  your  wife 
when  she  was  as  yet  simply  Madame  de  Bargeton." 

This  delicate  epigram,  at  which  the  lady  smiled, 
made  the  prefect  of  Charente  feel  a  nervous  chill. 

"Tell  her,"  added  Lucien,  "that  I  bear  gules, 
with  a  mad  bull  of  silver  in  a  field  sinople." 

"  Mad  for  silver,"  repeated  Chatelet. 

"  Madame  la  Marquise  will  explain  to  you,  if  you 
do  not  know,  why  this  ancient  crest  is  somewhat 
better  than  the  chamberlain's  key  and  the  golden 
bees  of  the  Empire  which  may  be  found  in  yours  to 


8  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

the  great  despair  of  Madame  Chatelet,  r&e  Ntgre- 
pelisse  d'Espard,"  said  Lucien  sardonically. 

"  Since  you  have  recognized  me,  I  can  puzzle  you 
no  further,  and  I  can't  tell  you  how  much  you  puzzle 
me,"  said  the  Marquise  d'Espard  in  a  low  tone, 
amazed  at  the  impertinence  and  cleverness  of  a  man 
whom  she  had  formerly  despised. 

"  Allow  me  then,  madame,  to  preserve  the  sole 
chance  I  have  of  holding  your  attention  by  remain- 
ing in  this  mysterious  shadow,"  said  he  with  the 
smile  of  a  man  who  does  not  care  to  imperil  happi- 
ness that  is  assured. 

The  marquise  could  not  repress  a  slight  start  on 
feeling  herself  (to  use  an  English  expression)  snubbed 
by  Lucien's  conciseness. 

"  I  congratulate  you  on  your  change  of  position," 
said  the  Count  du  Chatelet. 

"And  I  accept  your  compliment  in  the  spirit  in 
which  you  make  it,"  answered  Lucien,  bowing  to 
the  marquise  with  surpassing  grace. 

"  The  coxcomb  !  "  said  the  count  in  a  low  tone  to 
Madame  d'Espard,  "  he  has  ended  by  outdoing  his 
ancestors." 

"When  fatuity  falls  upon  us  young  people  it 
means  almost  invariably  good  fortune  in  some  high 
place:  but  with  the  rest  of  you  it  means  bad  luck. 
Besides  I  should  like  to  know  which  of  our  friends 
has  taken  this  pretty  bird  under  her  protection; 
perhaps  I  might  then  find  the  chance  of  amusing  my- 
self to-night.  Of  course,  my  anonymous  note  is  a 
spiteful  trick  arranged  by  some  rival,  for  it  concerns 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  9 

this  young  man;  his  impertinence  has  been  dictated 
to  him.  Watch  him.  I  am  going  to  take  the  Duke  de 
Navarreins'  arm;  you  will  know  where  to  find  me." 

Just  as  Madame  d'Espard  was  about  to  speak  to 
her  relative,  the  mysterious  masquerader  stepped 
between  her  and  the  duke  to  whisper  in  her  ear: 

"  Lucien  loves  you.  He  it  is  who  wrote  the 
note.  Your  prefect  is  his  worst  enemy.  How  could 
he  explain  before  him?" 

The  stranger  moved  away,  leaving  Madame  d'Es- 
pard prey  to  a  double  surprise.  The  marquise  knew 
nobody  in  the  world  who  could  play  the  part  of  this 
unknown  mask.  Fearing  a  trap,  she  walked  away 
to  find  a  seat  and  disappeared.  Count  Sixte  du 
Chatelet,  whose  ambitious  purpose  Lucien  had  cut 
short  with  an  affectation  which  betrayed  long  con- 
templated vengeance,  followed  the  consummate 
dandy,  and  soon  met  a  young  man  with  whom  he 
thought  he  could  speak  freely. 

"  Ah,  Rastignac,  have  you  seen  Lucien?  He  has 
shed  his  skin.  He's  completely  transformed." 

"  If  I  were  as  good-looking  as  he,  I  should  be  richer 
than  he,"  answered  the  young  swell  in  a  flippant 
but  shrewd  tone,  that  gave  token  of  attic  sarcasm. 

"No,"  whispered  the  big  masquerader,  paying 
back  his  sarcasm  with  interest  by  the  manner  in 
which  he  accented  the  monosyllable. 

Rastignac,  who  was  not  the  man  to  swallow  an 
insult,  stood  as  if  struck  by  lightning,  and  allowed 
himself  to  be  led  into  the  embrasure  of  a  window 
by  an  iron  grasp  which  he  could  not  shake  off. 


10  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

"  You  young  cock,  fresh  from  mother  Vauquer's 
chicken-coop,  you  who  dared  not  seize  old  Taille- 
fer's  millions  when  the  hardest  part  of  the  work  was 
done,  know,  for  your  own  safety,  if  you  don't  treat 
Lucien  like  a  brother  that  you  love,  that  you  are 
in  our  hands,  though  we  are  not  in  yours.  Silence 
and  devotion,  or  I'll  join  your  game  and  knock  over 
your  nine-pins.  Lucien  de  Rubempre  is  protected  by 
the  greatest  power  of  to-day,  the  Church.  Choose 
between  life  and  death.  Your  answer?" 

Rastignac  felt  his  head  swim,  like  a  man  who  has 
gone  to  sleep  in  a  forest  and  wakes  up  to  find  him- 
self beside  a  hungry  lioness.  He  was  afraid:  there 
were  no  witnesses;  at  times  like  this,  the  bravest 
men  give  themselves  up  to  fear. 

"Only  he  could  know — and  dare — ,"  he  said  to 
himself  half  aloud. 

The  mask  squeezed  his  hand  to  prevent  his  finish- 
ing his  sentence. 

"  Act  as  if  it  were  he,"  said  he. 

Then  Rastignac  did  as  does  a  millionaire  when  he 
is  held  up  on  the  highroad  by  a  brigand  ;  he  sur- 
rendered. 

He  stepped  toward  du  Chatelet  and  said:  "  My 
dear  count,  if  you  value  your  position,  treat  Lucien 
de  Rubempre  as  a  man  whom,  some  day,  you'll  find 
in  a  much  higher  place  than  yours." 

The  black  figure  allowed  an  imperceptible  gesture 
of  satisfaction  to  escape  him,  and  walked  off  after 
Lucien. 

"  Well,  my  friend,  you  have  changed  your  opinion 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  II 

of  him  rather  speedily,"  answered  the  prefect,  nat- 
urally astonished. 

"  As  speedily  as  those  who  sit  in  the  centre  and 
vote  with  the  right,"  retorted  Rastignac  to  this 
deputy-prefect  whose  vote  had  been  lost  to  the  min- 
istry during  the  past  few  days. 

"Are  there  any  honest  opinions  nowadays? 
There  are  only  self-interests,"  said  des  Lupeaulx, 
who  was  listening  to  them.  "  What  is  it  all  about? " 

"  About  Monsieur  de  Rubempre.  Rastignac  wants 
me  to  think  that  he  is  rather  important,"  said  the 
deputy  to  the  general  secretary. 

"My  dear  count,"  returned  des  Lupeaulx  gravely, 
"Monsieur  de  Rubempre  is  a  young  man  of  the 
greatest  merit  and  so  well  backed  that  I  should  be 
very  pleased  to  be  able  to  renew  my  acquaintance 
with  him." 

"  There  he  goes  tumbling  into  the  wasp-nest  of 
the  rakes  of  the  day,"  said  Rastignac. 

The  three  speakers  turned  toward  a  corner  where 
stood  several  wits,  men  more  or  less  famous,  and  sev- 
eral swells.  These  gentlemen  shared  their  observa- 
tions, their  jokes  and  their  scandals,  trying  to  amuse 
themselves  or  waiting  for  some  amusement  to  turn 
up.  In  this  strangely  mingled  group  were  persons 
with  whom  Lucien  had  had  varied  relations:  connec- 
tions outwardly  pleasant  and  ill-turns  glossed  over. 

"  Well,  Lucien,  my  boy,  here  we  are  again,  all 
cleaned  and  mended.  Whence  do  we  come  ?  So 
we've  remounted  our  steed  by  dint  of  the  presents 
dispatched  from  Florine's  boudoir?"  "Bravo,  my 


12  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

boy!"  exclaimed  Blondet,  dropping  Finot's  arm  in 
order  to  grasp  Lucien  familiarly  by  the  waist  and 
press  him  to  his  heart. 

Andoche  Finot  was  the  owner  of  a  review  for 
which  Lucien  had  worked  almost  gratis,  and  which 
Blondet  was  enriching  by  his  collaboration,  the  wis- 
dom of  his  advice  and  the  depths  of  his  opinions. 
Finot  and  Blondet  personified  Bertrand  and  Raton, 
with  this  simple  difference  that  la  Fontaine's  cat 
eventually  woke  up  to  the  fact  that  he  was  being 
duped,  while  Blondet,  though  aware  all  along  of  the 
imposture,  kept  on  toiling  for  Finot.  This  brilliant 
condottiere  of  the  pen  was,  in  fact,  destined  to  a  long 
slavery.  Beneath  a  heavy  exterior,  beneath  the 
dulness  of  a  surly  impertinence,  Finot  concealed  a 
brutal  will  sprinkled  with  cleverness  as  a  laborer's 
bread  is  spread  with  garlic.  He  knew  how  to  gather 
in  the  harvest  of  thoughts  and  of  money  which  he 
reaped  from  the  fields  of  the  dissolute  lives  led  by 
men  of  letters  and  nun  of  politics.  To  his  misfor- 
tune, Blondet  had  sold  his  strength  to  his  vices  and 
to  his  idleness.  Constantly  overtaken  by  want,  he 
belonged  to  the  unfortunate  band  of  clever  people 
who  can  do  everything  for  the  fortunes  of  others 
and  nothing  for  their  own:  Aladdins  who  lend  their 
lamps.  These  admirable  counselors  have  minds 
that  are  clear  and  just  when  they  are  not  perverted 
by  self-interest.  With  them  it  is  the  head  and  not 
the  hand  that  acts.  Thence  comes  the  looseness  of 
their  manners,  and  thence  it  is  that  weaker  minds 
load  them  with  contumely.  Blondet  shared  his 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  13 

purse  with  the  comrade  he  had  wounded  the  night 
before;  he  dined,  drank,  slept  with  the  man  he 
would  throttle  on  the  morrow.  His  amusing  para- 
doxes justified  everything.  He  took  the  whole 
world  as  a  joke,  and  he  did  not  wish  to  be  taken  in 
earnest.  Young,  popular,  almost  famous,  happy, 
he  did  not,  like  Finot,  spend  his  time  in  acquiring 
the  fortune  that  his  old  age  would  need.  The  rarest 
kind  of  courage,  perhaps,  is  that  which  Lucien  needed 
at  this  moment,  to  snub  Blondet  as  he  had  just 
snubbed  Madame  d'Espard  and  Chatelet.  Unfortu- 
nately, with  him,  the  pleasures  of  vanity  interfered 
with  the  exercise  of  pride,  which  surely  is  the  be- 
ginning of  many  great  things.  His  vanity  had  tri- 
umphed in  the  last  encounter;  he  had  shown  himself 
rich,  happy  and  disdainful  toward  two  persons  who 
had  disdained  him  when  he  was  poor  and  wretched. 
But  as  a  poet,  could  he,  like  a  hardened  diplomat, 
break  from  two  self-styled  friends  who  had  received 
him  in  his  poverty  and  given  him  a  bed  in  the  days 
of  his  distress?  Finot,  Blondet  and  he  had  debased 
themselves  together,  they  had  revelled  in  orgies 
which  had  swallowed  only  the  gold  of  their  creditors. 
Like  soldiers  who  do  not  know  how  to  use  their 
courage,  Lucien  did  what  many  people  in  Paris  do. 
He  compromised  his  character  afresh  by  accepting 
Finot's  handshake  without  discarding  Blondet's 
caress.  Whoever  has  dipped  into  journalism  or 
is  still  in  it,  lies  under  the  hard  necessity  of 
bowing  to  men  he  despises,  smiling  upon  his  worst 
enemy,  consorting  with  the  rankest  baseness,  and 


14  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

dirtying  his  fingers  in  his  struggle  to  pay  his  adver- 
saries in  their  own  coin.  He  grows  accustomed  to 
seeing  evil,  to  letting  it  pass;  he  begins  by  sanction- 
ing it,  he  ends  by  doing  it.  As  time  goes  on,  the  soul, 
spotted  continually  by  shameful  dealings,  decays, 
the  spring  of  noble  thoughts  rusts,  the  hinges  of 
low  standards  swing  and  turn  of  themselves.  Alceste 
becomes  Philinte;  characters  weaken,  talents  de- 
teriorate, high  ideals  of  work  disappear.  The  man 
who  was  wont  to  pride  himself  on  his  paragraphs 
wastes  his  energies  on  wretched  articles  which, 
sooner  or  later,  his  conscience  points  at  as  if  they 
were  so  many  sins.  Some  have  tried,  like  Lousteau, 
like  Vernou,  to  be  great  authors.  They  become 
nerveless  writers  of  reviews.  We  cannot  honor  too 
highly  writers  whose  character  is  as  lofty  as  their 
talent,  men  like  d'Arthez,  who  can  walk  with  firm 
step  across  the  quicksands  of  literary  life.  Lucien 
knew  not  what  to  answer  to  the  wheedling  of  Blon- 
det,  whose  mind  exercised  over  him  an  irresistible 
fascination — the  ascendant  of  the  corruptor  over  his 
pupil.  Besides  Blondet  had  a  recognized  position 
in  the  world  through  his  liaison  with  the  Countess  de 
Montcornet. 

"  Has  an  uncle  left  you  his  fortune  ?"  asked  Finot 
in  a  sarcastic  voice. 

"1  have  been  bowling  down  fools,  after  your 
fashion,"  answered  Lucien  in  the  same  tone. 

"  Possibly  monsieur  has  a  review,  some  journal?" 
answered  Andoche  Finot  with  all  the  conceited  im- 
pertinence that  the  sharper  shows  toward  his  victim. 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  15 

"Better  still,"  replied  Lucien,  whose  vanity, 
wounded  by  the  affected  superiority  of  the  editor, 
gave  him  the  spirit  his  new  position  warranted. 

"  And  what  may  that  be,  my  friend?" 

"  I  have  a  purpose." 

"Lucien  has  one  of  his  purposes,"  said  Vernou 
smiling. 

"  This  fellow  has  beaten  you,  Finot;  I  told  you 
he  would.  Lucien  has  talent.  You  have  mismanaged 
him  and  spoiled  him.  Think  it  over,  you  great 
blockhead!"  exclaimed  Blondet. 

Penetrating  as  musk,  Blondet  discerned  more  than 
one  secret  in  Lucien's  gesture,  accent  and  manner. 
Even  as  he  soothed  him,  he  was  able  to  tighten  the 
curb  by  his  words.  He  wanted  to  know  the  reasons 
for  Lucien's  return  to  Paris,  his  projects  and  his 
means  of  livelihood. 

"  Down  on  your  knees  before  a  superiority  that 
you  shall  never  reach,  whoever  you  are,  Finot,"  he 
went  on.  "  Admit  this  gentleman  on  the  instant, 
to  the  number  of  those  to  whom  the  future  belongs; 
he  is  one  of  us.  Witty  and  handsome,  as  he  is, 
must  not  he  succeed  by  your  quibuscumque  vtis. 
Here  he  stands  in  his  good  Milanese  armor,  with  his 
strong  dagger  half  drawn  and  his  banner  flying. 
In  heaven's  name,  Lucien,  where  did  you  steal  that 
charming  waistcoat  ?  Love  alone  can  discover 
cloth  like  that.  Have  we  a  home?  Just  now  I  need 
to  know  my  friends'  addresses.  I  have  nowhere 
to  sleep.  Finot  has  turned  me  out  for  to-night  on 
the  common  pretext  of  pleasure." 


16  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

"  My  boy,"  said  Lucien,  "  I  have  put  into  practice 
an  axiom  which  assures  me  a  quiet  life:  Fuge,  late, 
tace.  I  must  go." 

"  But  I  won't  let  you  go  until  you  pay  me  a  sacred 
debt — that  little  supper,  hey?"  said  Blondet,  who 
was  rather  too  much  given  to  good  cheer  and  liked 
to  be  treated  when  his  pockets  were  empty. 

"What  supper?"  demanded  Lucien  with  a  hasty 
gesture  of  impatience. 

"Don't  you  remember?  This  is  the  way  1 
recognize  a  friend's  prosperity:  his  memory  is 
gone." 

"He  knows  what  he  owes  us.  I'll  stand  surety 
for  his  heart,"  broke  in  Finot,  who  understood 
Blondet's  joke. 

"Rastignac,"  said  Blondet,  taking  the  young 
swell  by  the  arm  as  he  came  to  the  column  above 
the  foyer,  where  the  three  friends  were  grouped, 
"there's  a  supper  stirring;  you'll  make  one  of  us. 
At  least,  unless  this  gentleman  persists  in  denying  a 
debt  of  honor;  he  may." 

"Monsieur  de  Rubempre  is  incapable  of  K,  I'll 
warrant  him,"  said  Rastignac,  who  was  thinking  of 
something  very  different  from  a  jest. 

"There's  Bixiou,"  cried  Blondet,  "he'll  make 
one.  Nothing  is  complete  without  him.  When 
he's  away,  champagne  sticks  to  my  tongue  and  I 
find  everything  tasteless  even  to  the  spice  of  epi- 
grams." 

"Friends,"  said  Bixiou,  "I  see  that  you  are 
crowded  round  the  wonder  of  the  day.  Our  dear 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  17 

Lucien  brings  back  the  metamorphoses  of  Ovid.  Just 
as  the  gods  used  to  change  into  peculiar  vegetables 
and  other  things  to  seduce  women,  he  has  changed  Le 
Chardon  into  a  gentleman  to  seduce,  what?  Charles 
X!  My  dear  Lucien,"  said  he,  holding  him  by  a 
button  of  his  coat,  "a  journalist  who  goes  about 
dressed  like  a  lord  deserves  a  pretty  reception.  If 
1  were  in  their  place,"  said  the  pitiless  jester,  point- 
ing towards  Finot  and  Vernou,  "I  should  slander 
you  in  their  paper;  you  would  bring  them  in  a  hun- 
dred francs,  ten  columns  of  jokes." 

"Bixiou,  a  host  is  sacred  for  twenty-four  hours 
before  and  a  dozen  more  after  dinner;  our  distin- 
guished friend  invites  us  to  supper." 

"What!  what!"  exclaimed  Bixiou;  "but  can  there 
be  anything  more  necessary  than  to  save  a  great 
name  from  oblivion  or  to  endow  a  needy  aristoc- 
racy with  a  man  of  genius?  Lucien,  the  press 
esteems  you;  you  have  been  its  brightest  orna- 
ment, and  we  will  uphold  you.  Finot,  a  filet,  the 
best  in  Paris!  Blondet,  a  sugared  sweetmeat  on  the 
fourth  page  of  your  paper.  Let's  advertise  the 
appearance  of  the  finest  book  of  the  age,  The 
Archer  of  Charles  IX!  Beg  Dauriat  to  give  us  The 
Marguerites  at  once,  those  divine  sonnets  of  the 
French  Petrarch;  carry  our  friend  on  the  shield  of 
stamped  paper  which  makes  and  unmakes  reputa- 
tions." 

"If  you  care  to  sup,"  said  Lucien  to  Blondet, 
endeavoring  to  rid  himself  of  the  throng  which 
threatened  to  increase,  "  it  seems  to  me  that  you 


1 8  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

have  no  need  of  making  use  of  parables  and  hyper- 
bole with  an  old  friend  as  if  he  were  an  idiot.  To- 
morrow evening  at  Lointier's,"  said  he,  darting 
forward  at  the  sight  of  a  woman. 

"Oh!  oh!  oh!"  cried  Bixiou,  in  three  distinct 
keys  and  with  a  scoffing  air  as  he  appeared  to  recog- 
nize the  domino  before  which  Lucien  was  walking, 
"this  deserves  to  be  looked  into." 

And  he  followed  the  handsome  couple,  passed 
them,  scrutinized  them  carefully  and  returned,  much 
to  the  satisfaction  of  the  envious  group  who  were 
eager  to  know  the  source  of  Lucien 's  altered  for- 
tunes. 

"My  friends,  you  have  long  since  known  Mon- 
sieur de  Rubempre's  good  fortune,"  said  Bixiou. 
"It's  des  Lupeaulx'  old  rat." 

One  of  the  evils,  forgotten  nowadays,  but  common 
at  the  opening  of  this  century,  was  the  luxury  of 
rats.  "A  rat" — the  word  is  already  antiquated — was 
applied  to  a  girl  of  ten  or  eleven  years,  attached  to 
some  theatre,  or  more  often  to  the  Opera,  and  edu- 
cated by  libertines  in  a  life  of  vice  and  infamy.  A 
rat  was  a  kind  of  devil's  page,  a  girl  transformed 
into  a  street  arab  who  enjoyed  freedom  from  punish- 
ment. The  rat  could  steal  everything;  people  had  to 
look  out  for  it  as  a  dangerous  animal.  It  brought 
into  life  an  element  of  gayety,  the  part  played  in 
the  old  comedy  by  the  Scapins,  the  Sganarelles  and 
the  Frontins.  A  rat  was  too  expensive;  it  brought 
neither  honor,  nor  profit,  nor  pleasure.  The  fashion 
of  rats  passed  away  so  completely  that  few  people 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  IQ 

of  to-day  knew  this  intimate  detail  of  high  life  before 
the  Restoration  until  the  moment  when  several 
writers  seized  upon  the  rat  as  though  it  were  a  new 
subject. 

"What,  would  Lucien  rob  us  of  La  Torpille  after 
he  has  had  Coralie  killed  ?" 

On  hearing  these  words  the  broad-shouldered 
looking  masquerader  made  an  involuntary  motion 
which,  slight  as  it  was,  did  not  escape  Rastignac's 
notice. 

"That's  impossible,"  answered  Finot,  "La  Tor- 
pille hasn't  a  farthing  to  give  him.  Nathan  told  me 
that  she  borrowed  a  thousand  francs  of  Florine." 

"Gentlemen,  gentlemen!"  said  Rastignac,  seeking 
to  defend  Lucien  against  these  odious  imputations. 

"  Well,"  cried  Vernou,  "  has  the  gentleman,  after 
having  been  kept  by  Coralie,  turned  into  an  old 
prude?" 

"  Oh,"  said  Bixiou,  "  those  thousand  francs  make 
me  quite  sure  that  our  friend  Lucien  lives  with  La 
Torpille." 

"  What  an  irreparable  loss  to  the  choice  spirits  of 
literature,  science,  art  and  politics! "  exclaimed 
Blondet.  "  La  Torpille  is  the  only  woman  who 
has  the  making  of  a  perfect  courtesan.  Teach- 
ing has  not  spoiled  her;  she  can  neither  read  nor 
write:  she  would  have  understood  us.  We  should 
have  adorned  our  time  with  one  of  those  splendid 
Aspasia-like  figures  without  which  a  century  cannot 
be  great.  See  how  du  Barry  decorates  the  i8th 
century,  Ninon  de  Lenclos  the  i/th,  Marion  de 


20  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

Lorme  the  i6th,  Imperce  the  I5th,  Flora  the  Roman 
republic,  which  she  made  her  heir  and  which  was 
able  to  pay  the  public  debt  with  this  inheritance! 
What  would  Horace  be  without  Lydia,  Tibullus 
without  Delia,  Catullus  without  Lesbia,  Propertius 
without  Cynthia,  Demetrius  without  Lamia,  whose 
glory  she  is  to-day?" 

"  Blondet,  talking  of  Demetrius  in  the  foyer  of 
the  Opera,  seems  to  me  rather  too  much  like  copy 
for  the  Debats"  whispered  Bixiou  in  his  neighbor's 
ear. 

"And  without  all  these  queens  what  would  the 
empire  of  the  Caesars  be?"  went  on  Blondet; 
"  Lais,  Rhodope  are  Greece  and  Egypt.  Besides 
they  are  the  poetry  of  the  centuries  in  which  they 
lived.  This  poetry  which  Napoleon  lacked,  for 
the  widow  of  his  great  army  is  a  barrack-room  joke, 
was  not  wanting  to  the  Revolution  with  its  Madame 
Tallien.  And  now  in  France,  where  it  is  undecided 
who  shall  elect  a  queen,  surely  there  is  a  vacant 
throne.  It  was  our  chance.  We  might  have  made 
a  queen.  I  should  have  given  la  Torpille  an  aunt, 
for  it  is  too  well  known  that  her  mother  died  on  the 
field  of  dishonor;  du  Tillet  would  have  bought  her 
a  house;  Lousteau,  a  carriage;  Rastignac,  footmen; 
Lupeaulx,  a  cook;  Finot,  bonnets;" — Finot  could  not 
withhold  a  start  as  he  smarted  beneath  this  joke — ; 
"Vernou  would  have  puffed  her;  Bixiou  would 
have  made  his  wittiest  speeches  for  her.  The  aris- 
tocracy would  have  sought  their  amusements  at  our 
Ninon's,  and  we  should  have  summoned  the  artists 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  21 

thither  under  pain  of  death.  Ninon  II.  would  have 
been  superbly  impertinent,  crushingly  luxurious. 
She  would  have  had  her  own  ideas.  At  her  house 
some  forbidden  masterpiece  of  drama  would  have 
been  read,  or  might  at  need  have  been  written  to 
order.  She  would  not  have  been  democratic;  a 
courtesan  is  monarchical  by  nature.  Ah, what  a  loss! 
She,  who  should  love  her  generation,  adores  one 
small  man!  Lucien  will  make  a  hunting-dog  of 
her." 

"  Not  one  of  the  royal  women  you  have  named 
has  ever  grubbed  in  the  street,"  said  Finot,  "and 
this  charming  rat  has  wallowed  in  the  mire." 

"Like  the  seed  of  a  lily  in  its  earth,"  replied 
Vernou,  "  she  has  grown  more  beautiful  and 
has  bloomed  in  her  dirt.  Thence  comes  her  su- 
periority. Mustn't  one  know  all  things  in  order 
to  create  laughter  and  joy  which  belongs  to  all 
things?" 

"He  is  right,"  said  Lousteau,  who,  until  then, 
had  looked  on  in  silence;  "  La  Torpille  can  laugh 
and  make  others  laugh.  This  knowledge  of  great 
authors  and  great  actors  belongs  to  those  who  have 
penetrated  to  the  depths  'of  social  life.  At  eighteen 
this  girl  has  known  already  the  height  of  wealth, 
the  abyss  of  poverty  and  men  of  every  class.  She 
holds,  as  it  were,  a  magic  wand  wherewith  she  un- 
chains the  brutal  appetites  so  violently  compressed 
within  the  minds  of  men  who  still  have  some  heart 
though  they  are  busied  with  the  world  of  politics 
or  of  science,  of  literature  or  of  art.  There  is  no 


22  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

woman  in  Paris  who  can  say  to  the  brute,  as  she 
can:  '  Up,!'  And  the  brute  leaves  his  lair  and  goes 
out  to  revel  in  debauchery.  She  seats  you  at  her 
table,  she  helps  you  to  drink,  to  smoke.  In  short 
this  woman  is  the  salt  sung  of  by  Rabelais  which, 
when  it  is  cast  on  matter,  kindles  a  soul  and  raises 
it  to  the  marvelous  regions  of  art.  Her  gowns  dis- 
play unheard-of  splendor.  At  times,  her  fingers 
drop  their  jewel?  as  her  mouth  its  smiles.  She  gives  to 
everything  the  spirit  of  the  hour.  Her  talk  sparkles 
with  brilliant  sallies.  She  has  the  secret  of  the 
brightest  and  most  effective  onomatopoeia;  she — " 

"You  are  wasting  columns  of  newspaper,"  said 
Bixiou,  interrupting  Lousteau;  "  La  Torpille  is  im- 
measurably better  than  all  that.  You  have  all  of  you 
been  her  lovers  more  or  less;  not  one  of  you  can  say 
that  she  has  been  his  mistress.  She  can  have  you 
all  at  any  time;  you  will  never  have  her.  You 
force  her  door;  you  have  a  favor  to  beg  of  her." 

"  Oh,  she's  more  generous  than  a  bandit  chief- 
tain on  the  crest  of  the  wave,  and  more  devoted 
than  the  best  college  friend,"  said  Blondet.  "  You 
may  trust  her  with  your  purse  and  your  secrets. 
But  the  reason  that  makes  me  vote  for  her  as  queen 
is  her  Bourbon  indifference  to  the  fallen  favorite." 

"  Like  her  mother,  she's  much  too  dear,"  said  des 
Lupeaulx.  "The  Dutch  beauty  would  have  swal- 
lowed the  revenues  of  the  Archbishop  of  Toledo. 
She  has  devoured  two  notaries — " 

"  And  reared  Maxime  de  Trailles  when  he  was 
a  page,"  said  Bixiou. 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  23 

"  La  Torpille  is  too  dear,  as  Raphael,  as  Care"me, 
as  Taglioni,  as  Lawrence,  as  Boulle,  as  all  artists  of 
genius  were  too  dear,"  said  Blondet. 

"  Esther  never  had  that  look  of  a  woman  dressed 
to  perfection,"  said  Rastignac,  pointing  toward  the 
domino  to  whom  Lucien  was  offering  his  arm.  "  I'll 
bet  on  Madame  de  Serizy." 

"There's  no  doubt  about  it,"  cried  du  Chatelet. 
"  Monsieur  de  Rubempre's  good  fortune  is  ex- 
plained." 

"  Ah  !  The  Church  knows  how  to  choose  her 
levites.  What  a  charming  secretary  to  an  embassy 
he  will  make!"  said  des  Lupeaulx. 

"  And  all  the  more,"  replied  Rastignac,  "as  Lucien 
is  a  man  of  talent.  These  gentlemen  have  more 
than  one  proof  of  it,"  added  he,  turning  toward 
Blondet,  Finot  and  Lousteau. 

"Yes.  That  fellow's  cutout  to  get  on  in  the 
world,"  said  Lousteau,  who  was  bursting  with 
jealousy,  "and  all  the  more  because  he  has  what 
we  call  independence  of  mind." 

"It  was  you  that  moulded  him,"  said  Vernou. 

"Very  well,"  answered  Bixiou,  looking  at  des 
Lupeaulx,  "  1  appeal  to  the  memory  of  the  general 
secretary  and  master  of  requests.  That  domino  is 
La  Torpille,  I'll  bet  a  supper  on  it." 

"I'll  take  the  bet,"  said  du  Chatelet,  eager  to 
]earn  the  truth. 

" Come,  des  Lupeaulx,"  said  Finot,  "see  whether 
you  can't  recognize  your  old  rat's  ears." 

"There's  no  reason  for  committing  treason  against 


24  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

the  masquer,"  answered  Bixiou,  "La  Torpille  and 
Lucien  will  pass  us  as  they  walk  back  across  the 
foyer,  and  then  I'll  prove  that  it  is  she,  1  prom- 
ise you." 

"  So  our  friend  Lucien  has  come  to  the  surface?" 
said  Nathan,  who  had  joined  the  group.  "  I  supposed 
that  he  had  gone  back  to  Angoumois  for  the  rest  of 
his  days.  Has  he  discovered  some  secret  against 
the  English?" 

"  He  has  done  what  you  won't  do  in  a  hurry.  He 
has  paid  everything." 

The  broad  masquerader  nodded  his  head  in  as- 
sent. 

"In  settling  down,"  said  Nathan,  "a  man  always 
unsettles  himself.  He  loses  all  his  spirit;  he  be- 
comes a  bondholder." 

"Oh !  He'll  always  be  high  and  mighty.  He'll 
always  have  a  loftiness  of  mind  that  will  raise 
him  above  his  so-called  superiors,"  answered  Ras- 
tignac. 

At  this  minute  journalists,  dandies,  idlers,  all 
scanned  the  fascinating  object  of  their  bet,  like 
jockeys  examining  a  horse  on  sale.  These  judges, 
hardened  among  scenes  of  Parisian  depravity,  all  of 
excellent  minds  and  each  in  a  different  path,  corrupt' 
ors  alike,  alike  corrupt,  all  devoted  to  unchecked 
ambition,  accustomed  to  take  everything  for  granted 
and  to  leave  nothing  undiscovered,  had  their  eyes 
excitedly  fastened  upon  a  masked  woman,  a  woman 
who  could  be  identified  by  them  alone.  Only  they 
and  some  few  habitues  of  the  Opera  ball  could 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  2$ 

recognize,  beneath  the  long  shroud  of  the  black 
domino,  beneath  the  hood,  beneath  the  falling  cape 
which  hides  a  woman  so  completely,  the  curves  of 
form,  the  individualities  of  presence  and  gait,  the 
movement  of  the  waist,  the  carriage  of  the  head,  the 
things  least  noticeable  to  the  common  eye  and  the 
most  easy  for  them  to  discern.  In  spite  of  the  shape- 
less exterior  they  could  recognize  that  most  moving 
sight  that  the  eye  can  see:  a  woman  moved  by  true 
love.  Whether  she  were  La  Torpille,  the  Duchess  of 
Maufrigneuse  or  Madame  de  Serizy,  the  last  or  the 
first  round  of  the  social  ladder,  this  creature  was 
an  admirable  creation,  the  light  of  a  happy  dream. 
These  old  young  men  and  young  old  men  alike  felt 
a  sensation  so  poignant  that  they  envied  Lucien 
the  exalted  privilege  of  this  transformation  of  a 
woman  into  a  goddess.  The  masked  figure  walked 
as  if  she  were  alone  with  Lucien.  For  this  woman 
there  were  no  longer  ten  thousand  people,  an  atmos- 
phere heavy  and  thick  with  dust.  No,  she  was 
beneath  the  heavenly  vault  of  love,  as  Raphael's 
Madonnas  are  beneath  their  oval  fillets  of  gold.  She 
did  not  feel  the  press  of  the  throng;  the  flame  of  her 
glance  shot  from  the  twin  holes  in  her  mask  and 
darted  into  Lucien's  eyes;  the  very  quivering  of  her 
frame  seemed  to  have  for  its  motive  the  correspond- 
ing movement  of  her  lover.  Whence  comes  this 
flame  which  sheds  its  light  about  a  woman  in  love, 
which  marks  her  from  the  crowd?  Whence  comes 
this  fairy  lightness  which  seems  to  change  the  laws 
of  weight?  Is  it  the  soul  escaping?  Has  happiness 


26  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

bodily  virtues?  The  simplicity  of  a  girl,  the  graces 
of  childhood  show  forth  from  beneath  the  domino. 
Though  they  are  separate  and  in  motion,  these  two 
beings  resemble  those  groups  of  Flora  and  Zephyrus 
cunningly  intertwined  by  the  cleverest  sculptors. 
But  this  was  greater  than  sculpture,the  greatest  of 
arts.  Lucien  and  his  lovely  domino  brought  to  mind 
those  angels  playing  with  birds  and  flowers  which 
Jean  Bellini's  brush  has  placed  beneath  his  pictures 
of  the  Virgin  mother.  Lucien  and  this  woman  be- 
longed to  the  imagination  which  is  above  art  as 
cause  is  above  effect. 

When  this  woman,  forgetful  of  everything,  was 
at  a  single  step  from  the  group,  Bixiou  cried  out: 
"  Esther!" 

The  unfortunate  woman  turned  her  head  quickly 
as  if  she  had  heard  her  name,  then,  recognizing  the 
malicious  figure,  she  hung  her  head  like  a  dying 
man  as  he  breathes  his  last.  There  was  a  shrill 
burst  of  laughter,  and  the  group  melted  into  the 
midst  of  the  crowd  as  frightened  field-mice  scuttle 
from  the  roadside  to  their  holes.  Rastignac  alone 
did  not  go  farther  than  was  necessary,  in  order  to 
avoid  the  appearance  of  shrinking  before  the  angry 
glance  of  Lucien.  He  could  wonder  at  two  sorrows 
equally  deep  although  hidden;  one,  poor  Torpille 
stricken  down  as  if  by  lightning,  the  other,  the  un- 
known masquerader,  the  only  person  in  the  group 
who  had  not  stirred.  Esther  whispered  one  word 
in  Lucien's  ear,  her  knees  trembled  beneath  her, 
and  Lucien  disappeared  supporting  her.  Rastignac 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  27 

looked  after  the  handsome  couple  and  stood  buried 
in  his  thoughts. 

"Whence  came  this  name  of  Torpille?"  said  a 
gloomy  voice  which  went  through  him  like  a  knife, 
for  it  was  no  longer  disguised. 

"  It  is  he.  He  has  escaped  again,"  said  Rastignac 
aside. 

"Silence  or  I'll  throttle  you,"  answered  the  mas- 
querader,  assuming  a  different  voice.  "  I  am  satis- 
fied with  you;  you  have  kept  your  word.  You  have 
more  than  one  arm  to  help  you.  Henceforth  be 
silent  as  the  grave,  and  before  that  silence  answer 
my  question." 

"This  girl  is  so  fascinating  that  she  could  have 
bewitched  the  Emperor  Napoleon,  and  she  can  be- 
witch somebody  still  more  difficult  to  seduce,  you! " 
replied  Rastignac,  moving  away. 

"One  moment,"  said  the  masquerader.  "lam 
going  to  show  you  that  you  have  never  seen  me 
before." 

The  man  unmasked.  Rastignac  hesitated  a 
moment  as  he  recognized  nothing  of  the  hideous 
creature  he  had  formerly  known  in  the  Maison 
Vauquer. 

"The  devil  has  let  you  change  everything  but 
your  eyes,  and  those  no  one  can  ever  forget." 

The  iron  hand  clenched  his  arm  to  enjoin  an  eter- 
nal silence. 

At  three  o'clock  in  the  morning  des  Lupeaulx  and 
Finot  found  the  elegant  Rastignac  resting  against  a 
column  on  the  spot  where  the  terrible  masquerader 


28  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

had  left  him.  Rastignac  had  confessed  to  himself. 
He  had  been  the  priest  and  the  penitent,  the  judge 
and  the  accused.  He  allowed  them  to  take  him 
away  and  give  him  a  breakfast  and  went  home 
completely  drunk  but  silent 


The  Rue  de  Langlade,  as  well  as  the  adjacent 
streets,  abuts  into  the  Palais  Royal  and  the  Rue  de 
Rivoli.  This  portion  of  one  of  the  most  brilliant 
quarters  of  Paris  will  long  preserve  the  stains  left 
by  those  heaps  of  filth  which  marked  the  unlawful 
haunts  and  "mills"  of  old  Paris.  These  streets, 
narrow,  sombre  and  muddy,  where  business  gives 
little  heed  to  appearances,  assume  at  night  a  myste- 
rious look  that  is  full  of  contrasts.  In  going  from  the 
brilliantly  lighted  districts  of  the  Rue  Saint-Honore,  of 
the  Rue  Neuve-des-Petits-Champs,and  of  the  Rue  de 
Richelieu,  where  presses  a  ceaseless  crowd,  where 
glitter  the  masterpieces  of  industry,  fashion  and 
art,  any  man  unfamiliar  with  the  nights  in  Paris 
would  feel  a  gloomy  dread  as  he  turned  into  the 
network  of  alleys  which  encircle  that  brightness 
that  is  reflected  to  the  sky.  Thick  darkness  suc- 
ceeds to  torrents  of  gas.  Here  and  there  a  pale 
lamp  throws  its  uncertain  and  smoky  rays  which 
light  only  a  few  black  obstacles.  The  few  passers- 
by  walk  quickly.  The  shops  are  closed;  those 
which  are  open  are  of  a  bad  character;  a  bar-room 
dirty  and  dark,  a  linen-draper's  selling  cologne.  A 
noxious  chill  spreads  its  mantle  over  your  shoulders. 
Few  carriages  pass.  There  are  sinister-looking 
places,  among  them  the  Rue  de  Langlade,  the  en- 
trance of  the  Passage  Saint-Guillaume,  and  several 

(29) 


30  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

winding  streets.  The  city  council  has  as  yet  been 
able  to  do  nothing  toward  cleansing  this  vast  leprosy, 
for  prostitution  has  long  since  established  her  head- 
quarters there.  Perhaps  it  is  for  the  best  interests 
of  Paris  to  allow  these  alleys  to  retain  their  foul 
appearance.  Passing  by  in  the  light  of  day,  it  is 
impossible  to  imagine  what  these  streets  become 
at  night.  They  are  strewn  with  strange-looking  fig- 
ures— people  without  a  caste.  White,  half-naked 
forms  lean  against  the  walls.  The  darkness  is  alive. 
Between  the  houses  and  the  roadway  flows  a  stream 
of  gaudily  dressed  women  walking  and  chattering. 
Several  half-open  doors  give  forth  loud  peals  of 
laughter.  Words  fall  upon  the  ear  such  as  Rabe- 
lais asserted  are  frozen  and  melt.  Snatches  of  song 
rise  from  between  the  paving-stones.  The  sound  is 
not  uncertain;  it  means  something:  when  it  is  hoarse 
it  is  a  voice,  but  if  it  sound  like  a  chant  it  loses  all 
kinship  with  the  world;  it  is  a  wild,  strident  noise. 
Shrill  whistles  sound  constantly;  the  very  boot- 
heels  have  something  maddening  and  derisive  about 
their  creak.  Everything  together  makes  a  man 
dizzy.  The  atmospherical  conditions  are  altered:  it 
is  hot  in  winter  and  cold  in  summer.  But  whatever 
the  weather,  this  strange  place  offers  the  same 
spectacle.  The  fantastic  world  of  Hoffman  of  Ber- 
lin is  there.  The  most  mathematical  accountant 
believes  nothing  he  has  seen  there  after  he  has 
passed  back  through  the  districts  that  lead  to  respect- 
able streets  where  there  are  passers-by  and  shops 
and  gaslights.  More  disdainful  or  more  modest  than 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  31 

the  kings  and  queens  of  old,  who  were  not  ashamed 
to  be  seen  with  courtesans,  modern  policy  and  gov- 
ernment dare  not  face  this  plague  of  great  cities. 
Surely  laws  must  change  with  time;  and  those  which 
govern  individuals  and  their  liberty  are  of  nice 
adjustment;  but  perhaps  society  should  show  itself 
liberal  and  bold  in  such  matters  purely  material,  as 
air,  light  and  streets.  The  moralist,  the  artist  and 
the  wise  official  alike  will  lament  those  ancient 
wooden  galleries  of  the  Palais  Royal  where  those 
sheep  used  to  wander  who  will  never  cease  to  fol- 
low the  pleasure-seekers.  Is  it  not  better  that  the 
pleasure-seekers  should  follow  them?  What  has 
happened?  To-day,  the  most  brilliant  quarters  of 
the  boulevards  are  forbidden  to  the  family  in  the 
evening.  In  this  respect  the  police  has  not  made 
the  most  of  its  resources.  A  few  crooked  alleys 
might  have  saved  the  public  highway. 

The  girl,  heart-broken  by  a  single  word  at  the 
Opera  ball,  had  lived  for  the  past  month  or  two  in  a 
house  of  mean  appearance  on  the  Rue  de  Langlade. 
Propped  against  the  wall  of  an  enormous  building, 
this  construction,  badly  plastered,  without  depth 
but  of  tremendous  height,  receives  its  light  from  the 
street  and  bears  some  resemblance  to  a  parrot's 
perch.  A  suite  of  two  rooms  is  on  every  story. 
This  house  is  provided  with  a  slender  staircase  fitted 
closely  to  the  wall  and  curiously  lighted  by  window 
frames  which  mark  the  outline  of  the  stair  on  the 
exterior  of  the  house,  and  where  every  landing  is 
indicated  by  a  sink,  one  of  the  worst  of  Parisian 


32  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

peculiarities.  The  shop  and  the  ground  floor  were 
inhabited  at  this  time  by  a  tinsmith.  The  proprietor 
lived  on  the  first  floor,  and  the  other  four  stories 
were  occupied  by  very  respectable  grisettes  who 
obtained  a  discount  and  favorable  terms  from  the 
owner  and  the  porter  on  account  of  the  difficulty  of 
renting  a  house  so  singularly  built  and  situated.  The 
uses  of  this  quarter  are  sufficiently  explained  by  the 
presence  of  a  number  of  houses  like  this,  unsuitable 
for  business  and  which  can  be  devoted  only  to  em- 
ployments unlicensed,  precarious  or  disreputable. 

At  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  the  janitress, 
who  had  seen  Mademoiselle  Esther  brought  back 
fainting  by  a  young  man  at  two  o'clock  in  the 
morning,  consulted  the  grisette  on  the  floor  above, 
who,  before  getting  into  her  carriage  on  her  way 
to  a  party,  had  declared  her  uneasiness  on  Esther's 
account:  she  had  not  heard  a  sound.  No  doubt 
Esther  was  still  asleep,  but  this  sleep  seemed  sus- 
picious. Alone  in  her  lodge  the  janitress  felt  sorry 
that  she  could  not  go  and  see  what  was  going  on  in 
the  fourth  story  where  were  Mademoiselle  Esther's 
lodgings.  Just  as  she  had  determined  to  entrust 
to  the  tinsmith's  son  the  care  of  her  lodge,  a  sort 
of  niche  arranged  in  a  corner  of  the  ground  floor, 
a  cab  stopped  in  front  of  the  house.  A  man  wrapped 
from  head  to  foot  in  a  cloak,  with  the  evident  pur- 
pose of  concealing  his  dress  or  his  rank,  stepped  out 
and  asked  for  Mademoiselle  Esther.  The  janitress 
felt  entirely  reassured.  The  silence  and  tranquillity 
of  the  recluse  seemed  quite  explained.  As  the 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  33 

stranger  ascended  the  stairs  above  the  lodge,  the 
janitress  noticed  the  silver  buckles  which  decorated 
his  shoes,  and  she  thought  that  she  could  detect  the 
black  fringe  of  the  sash  of  a  cassock.  She  went  out 
and  questioned  the  coachman.  He  replied  without 
giving  an  answer,  and  she  understood  still  better. 
The  priest  knocked;  no  answer  came  other  than 
faint  sighs  from  within.  Then  thrusting  his  shoulder 
against  the  door,  he  burst  it  open  with  a  vigor 
lent  him  by  charity  no  doubt,  but  which  in  another 
would  have  appeared  the  result  of  habit.  He  rushed 
into  the  inner  room  and  saw,  before  a  Virgin  of 
colored  plaster,  with  her  hands  clasped  together,  poor 
Esther  on  her  knees,  or  rather  lying  in  a  heap. 

The  grisette  was  senseless.  A  chafing-dish  of 
burned  charcoal  told  the  story  of  the  awful  morning. 
The  hood  and  the  cloak  of  the  domino  lay  on  the 
floor.  The  bed  was  undisturbed.  The  poor  girl, 
cut  to  the  heart  by  a  deadly  wound,  had,  no  doubt, 
arranged  everything  after  her  return  from  the 
Opera.  The  wick  of  a  candle  stuck  in  a  socket  full 
of  melted  wax  showed  how  deeply  Esther  had  been 
absorbed  in  her  last  meditations.  A  handkerchief 
steeped  in  tears  proved  a  sincerity  of  despair  like 
that  of  Magdalen,  whose  classic  pose  was  the  same 
as  that  of  this  unholy  courtesan.  This  perfect 
repentance  brought  a  smile  to  the  priest's  face. 
Not  clever  at  dying,  Esther  had  left  her  door  open 
without  thinking  that  the  air  of  the  two  rooms 
would  require  a  great  quantity  of  charcoal  before  it 
could  become  impossible  to  breathe.  The  vapor 


34  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

had  merely  stifled  her.  The  fresh  air  from  the 
stairs  restored  her  by  degrees  to  the  consciousness 
of  her  ills.  The  priest  stood  wrapt  in  gloomy 
thought,  untouched  by  the  heavenly  beauty  of  the 
girl  and  watching  her  first  movements  as  though  she 
had  been  some  animal.  His  eyes  wandered  from 
the  prostrate  body  to  the  different  objects  scattered 
about  the  floor,  with  apparent  indifference.  He 
looked  at  the  furniture  of  the  room,  at  the  red-tiled 
rough,  cold  floor,  ill  concealed  by  a  threadbare  carpet. 
A  small  bed  of  painted  wood  canopied  by  yellow 
calico  curtains  spotted  with  roses;  a  single  armchair 
and  two  chairs,  also  of  painted  wood  and  covered 
with  the  same  calico,  which  curtained  the  window 
as  well;  a  wall-paper  of  a  gray  background  flecked 
with  flowers,  but  blackened  by  time  and  grease;  a 
mahagony  work-table;  a  fire-place  littered  with 
kitchen  utensils  of  the  meanest  description;  two 
bundles  of  kindling-wood;  a  stone  mantel-piece 
strewn  with  glasses,  ornaments  and  scissors;  a  dirty 
pincushion;  gloves  white  and  perfumed;  a  charming 
bonnet  tossed  on  a  water-pitcher;  a  shawl  from 
Ternaux  which  stopped  a  hole  in  the  window;  an 
elaborate  gown  hung  from  a  nail;  a  small  sofa,  bare, 
without  cushions;  old  and  broken  sandals;  fascinating 
slippers;  boots  to  make  a  queen  jealous;  plates  of 
chipped  crockery  stained  with  the  traces  of  the  last 
repast  and  heaped  up  with  covers  of  nickel-plate,  the 
silverware  of  Parisian  poor;  a  great  basket  full  of 
potatoes  and  soiled  linen,  with  a  fresh  gauze  bonnet 
on  top;  a  bad  wardrobe,  with  a  looking-glass,  wide 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  35 

open  and  empty  except  for  a  few  pawn-tickets  from 
the  mont-de-piete  which  lay  on  the  shelves;  such 
was  the  collection  of  things,  sad  and  gay,  poor  and 
rich,  which  met  the  eye. 

These  traces  of  luxury  in  broken  fragments,  this 
room  so  perfectly  appropriate  to  the  Bohemian  life 
of  this  girl  fallen  amongst  her  unwashed  linen  like  a 
horse  dead  in  his  harness,  entangled  in  his  reins 
beneath  the  broken  shaft — did  this  strange  spectacle 
cause  the  priest  to  reflect?  Did  he  say  to  himself 
that  at  least  this  erring  woman  must  be  disinterested, 
to  live  in  such  penury  and  love  a  rich  young 
man?  Did  he  attribute  the  disorder  of  furniture  to 
disorder  of  life?  Did  he  feel  pity?  horror?  Was 
his  charity  aroused?  One  who  had  seen  him  thus, 
his  arms  crossed,  his  forehead  contracted,  his  lips 
compressed,  his  eye  fierce,  would  have  thought 
him  filled  with  gloomy  and  malignant  thoughts, 
opposing  projects,  sinister  designs.  Surely  he  was 
blind  to  the  lovely  curves  of  a  breast  flattened  be- 
neath the  weight  of  her  bended  figure  and  to  the 
graceful  lines  of  limbs  that  could  be  traced  beneath 
the  folds  of  her  black  skirt,  as  she  knelt  crouched 
upon  the  floor.  The  careless  pose  of  the  head, 
which,  viewed  from  behind,  revealed  the  white 
neck,  soft  and  flexible,  and  the  fair,  ripe  shoulders 
did  not  move  him.  He  did  not  raise  Esther.  He 
seemed  to  be  deaf  even  to  the  tortured  gasps  which 
betrayed  the  return  of  consciousness.  It  was  not 
until  she  heaved  a  dreadful  sob  and  cast  her  start- 
ling glance  upon  him  that  he  deigned  to  lift  her  and 


36  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

to  place  her  on  the  bed  with  an  ease  that  betokened 
immense  strength. 

"  Lucien!"  she  murmured. 

"Love  returns;  the  woman  is  not  far  away," 
said  the  priest  with  a  kind  of  bitterness. 

Then  the  poor  victim  of  Parisian  debauchery 
noticed  the  costume  of  her  saviour  and  said  with 
the  smile  of  a  child  that  seizes  some  longed-for 
object. 

"Then  I  shall  not  die  without  a  reconciliation 
with  Heaven." 

"You  can  atone  for  your  sins,"  said  the  priest, 
moistening  her  forehead  with  water  and  holding 
beneath  her  nostrils  a  cruet  of  vinegar  which  he 
had  found  in  a  corner. 

"  I  feel  that  life,  instead  of  leaving  me,  flows  more 
strongly  than  ever,  "said  she  when  she  had  received 
the  priest's  care, 'and  expressed  her  gratitude  by 
gestures  full  of  naturalness. 

This  charming  pantomime,  that  the  graces  them- 
selves might  have  copied  for  the  destruction  of 
mankind,  was  a  perfect  justification  of  the  surname 
of  this  strange  girl. 

"Do  you  feel  better?"  asked  the  priest  as  he 
handed  her  a  glass  of  sugar  and  water  to  drink. 

This  man  seemed  perfectly  accustomed  to  places 
such  as  this;  he  knew  them  through  and  through. 
He  felt  completely  at  home.  This  privilege  of  feel- 
ing at  home  everywhere  belongs  only  to  kings,  to 
girls  and  to  thieves. 

"When  you  feel  quite  yourself,"  went  on  this 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  37 

singular  man  after  a  pause,  "  you  will  tell  me  the 
motives  which  have  brought  you  to  commit  your 
latest  crime,  this  attempted  suicide." 

"  My  story  is  very  simple,  father,"  answered  she. 
"  Three  months  ago  I  was  living  in  the  vice  in  which 
I  was  born.  I  was  the  last  of  human  beings  and  the 
most  vile,  now  I  am  only  the  most  unhappy.  Don't 
make  me  tell  you  of  my  poor  mother,  murdered — ." 

"By  a  captain  in  a  disreputable  den,"  said  the 
priest  interrupting  his  penitent.  "  I  know  your 
birth,  and  know  that  if  a  person  of  your  sex  can  be 
pardoned  for  living  a  life  of  shame  it  is  you  who 
have  never  had  a  good  example." 

"  I  have  never  been  even  baptized,  nor  have  I 
ever  been  taught  the  precepts  of  any  religion." 

"All  can  be  forgiven, "answered  the  priest,  "if  only 
your  faith  and  your  repentance  be  sincere  and  with- 
out regret." 

"  Lucien  and  God  fill  my  heart,"  said  she  with 
touching  simplicity. 

"You  should  say  God  and  Lucien,"  replied  the 
priest  smiling.  "  You  recall  to  me  my  reasons  for 
coming.  Leave  nothing  unsaid  which  concerns  this 
young  man." 

"Have  you  come  for  his  sake?"  she  asked  with 
a  tender  glance  which  would  have  softened  any 
priest  but  him.  "Oh!  he  suspected  what  might 
happen." 

"No,"  answered  he,  "it  is  not  on  account  of  your 
death,  but  for  your  life,  that  I  come  here.  Come, 
tell  me  your  relations." 


38  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

"  In  one  word,"  said  she. 

The  poor  girl  trembled  at  the  harsh  tone  of  the 
ecclesiastic,  but  like  a  woman  whom  brutality  has 
long  ceased  to  surprise,  she  answered: 

"Lucien  is  Lucien,  the  loveliest  and  the  best  man 
in  the  world.  But  if  you  know  him  you  cann-.' 
think  my  love  unnatural.  Three  months  ago  I  me  i 
him  by  chance  at  the  Porte  Saint  Martin,  where  1 
had  gone  for  an  outing.  For  we  were  given  one 
day  a  week  at  the  house  of  Madame  Meynardie, 
where  I  was.  The  next  day,  you  see,  I  ran  away 
without  permission.  Love  had  entered  into  my 
heart  and  had  changed  me  so  perfectly  that  when  I 
came  back  from  the  theatre  I  scarcely  felt  the  same 
person.  I  loathed  myself.  Lucien  could  never  find 
out  about  me.  Instead  of  telling  him  where  I  lived 
I  gave  him  the  address  of  this  lodging.  A  friend  of 
mine  was  living  here  then  and  she  was  kind  enough 
to  move  out  for  me.  I  give  you  my  sacred  word." 

"You  must  not  swear." 

"Is  it  swearing  simply  to  give  your  sacred  word? 
Well,  then,  since  that  day  I  have  toiled  in  this  room 
like  a  lost  soul,  making  chemises  at  twenty-eight 
sous  apiece,  in  order  to  gain  my  bread  honestly. 
For  a  month  I  have  eaten  nothing  but  potatoes,  just 
in  order  that  I  might  be  respectable  and  worthy  of 
Lucien,  who  loves  and  respects  me  as  the  purest  of 
the  pure.  I  have  made  my  formal  declaration  to 
the  police  in  order  to  recover  my  rights  and  I  have 
been  placed  under  surveillance  for  two  years.  It  is 
very  hard  to  get  those  who  are  so  ready  to  write 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  39 

your  name  on  the  registers  of  vice,  to  scratch  it  off 
again.  The  only  prayer  that  I  asked  of  Heaven  was 
to  protect  my  resolution.  I  shall  be  nineteen  in  the 
month  of  April,  at  that  age  there  is  hope.  It  seems 
as  if  I  were  three  months  old.  I  prayed  to  God 
every  morning  and  implored  Him  never  to  allow 
Lucien  to  know  my  former  life.  I  bought  this  Vir- 
gin that  you  see,  and  I  have  prayed  to  her  in  my 
own  way,  for  I  don't  know  any  prayers.  I  can't 
read  or  write.  I  have  never  entered  a  church.  I 
have  never  looked  at  the  Host,  except  out  of  curi- 
osity when  it  is  carried  in  processions." 

"What  do  you  tell  the  Virgin?  " 

"I  talk  to  her  as  I  talk  to  Lucien,  with  those 
bursts  of  feeling  that  make  him  cry." 

"Ah,  he  cries?" 

"  From  joy,"  she  answered  quickly.  "  Poor  boy! 
We  know  each  other  so  well  that  we  have  the  same 
soul.  He's  so  sweet,  so  caressing,  so  tender- 
hearted, so  witty,  so  graceful.  He  says  that  he  is 
a  poet;  I  say  that  he  is  God.  Pardon  me,  but  you 
priests  don't  know  what  love  is.  There  are  no 
others  save  such  as  I,  who  know  men  well  enough  to 
appreciate  a  Lucien.  A  Lucien,  you  see,  is  as  rare 
as  a  woman  without  sin.  When  you  meet  him 
you  can  love  nobody  else;  that  is  all.  But  such 
a  man  must  have  a  woman  worthy  of  him.  It 
was  for  this  that  I  wished  to  become  fit  to  be  loved 
by  my  Lucien,  and  thus  came  all  my  misfortune. 
Yesterday  at  the  Opera  I  was  recognized  by  some 
men  who  have  no  more  heart  than  tigers  have 


40  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

compassion;  I  should  sooner  expect  sympathy  from  a 
tiger.  The  veil  of  innocence  that  I  wore  is  fallen 
from  me;  their  laughter  pierced  my  head  and  my 
heart.  Don't  think  that  you  have  saved  me;  I  shall 
die  of  sorrow." 

"Your  veil  of  innocence?"  said  the  priest. 
"Then  you  have  always  been  cruel  to  Lucien?" 

"Oh!  father,  you  who  know  him,  how  can  you 
ask  me  such  a  question.  How  can  a  woman  resist 
a  god?" 

"Do  not  blaspheme,"  said  the  ecclesiastic  in  a 
gentle  voice.  "  Nobody  can  be  like  to  God.  Exag- 
geration does  not  beseem  real  love.  You  have  not 
a  pure,  true  love  for  your  idol.  Had  you  felt  the 
change  which  you  boast  has  come  over  you,  you 
would  have  acquired  the  virtues  that  belong  to 
youth.  You  would  have  known  the  joy  of  chastity, 
the  delicacy  of  shame,  those  two  glories  of  a  girl. 
You  do  "not  love." 

Esther  made  a  gesture  of  horror  which  the  priest 
saw,  but  which  did  not  disturb  the  rigid  calm  of 
the  confessor. 

"  Yes,  you  love  him  for  your  own  sake  and  not 
for  his;  for  the  pleasures  of  this  world  which  de- 
light you,  and  not  for  love  itself.  If  you  have 
loved  thus,  you  have  never  felt  that  holy  tremor 
the  which  inspires  a  creature  on  whom  God  has  set 
seal  of  exquisite  perfection.  Have  you  considered 
that  you  were  degrading  him  by  your  past  impurity, 
that  you  were  going  to  corrupt  a  child  by  those  hide- 
ous delights  that  have  brought  you  your  cognomen, 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  4! 

notorious  in  infamy?  You  have  been  inconsistent 
with  yourself  and  with  your  passion  of  a  day — " 

"  Of  a  day!"  repeated  she,  raising  her  eyes. 

"What  name  can  I  give  to  a  love  that  is  not  eternal, 
which  does  not  unite  us,  even  to  the  end  of  a  Christ- 
ian's future,  with  the  person  that  we  love?" 

"Oh,  I  want  to  be  a  Catholic,"  cried  she  in  a 
deep,  strong  voice  which  would  have  won  her 
pardon  from  our  Saviour. 

"  Is  a  girl  who  has  received  neither  the  baptism 
of  the  Church  nor  of  knowledge;  who  knows  not 
how  to  read  nor  write  nor  pray;  who  cannot  make 
one  step  without  the  stones  rising  up  to  accuse  her; 
worthy  of  notice  only  through  the  fleeting  privi- 
lege of  a  beauty  that  sickness  may  carry  away  to- 
morrow, perhaps;  is  this  creature,  vitiated,  degraded, 
knowing  her  degradation — had  you  been  more  igno- 
rant and  less  loving,  you  had  been  more  excusable — 
is  this  future  victim  of  suicide  and  of  hell,  the  woman 
who  could  be  the  wife  of  Lucien  de  Rubempre?" 

Each  sentence  was  a  dagger-thrust  piercing  to 
the  bottom  of  her  heart.  At  each  phrase  the  rising 
sobs,  the  fast-flowing  tears  of  the  hopeless  girl  bore 
witness  with  what  strength  the  light  poured  at  once 
into  her  mind,  simple  as  that  of  a  savage;  into  her 
soul,  awakened  at  length;  into  her  nature,  over 
which  depravity  had  spread  a  cloak  of  muddy  ice 
that  melted  in  the  sun  of  faith. 

"  Why  am  I  not  dead?"  was  the  one  thought  that 
she  gave  utterance  to  in  the  midst  of  the  torrent 
of  ideas  which  rushed  madly  through  her  brain. 


42  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

"  My  daughter,"  said  the  awful  judge,  "there  is  a 
Jove  which  is  hidden  before  men,  and  the  knowledge 
of  it  is  welcomed  by  the  angels  with  smiles  of  joy." 

"What?" 

"  Love  without  hope,  when  it  inspires  life  and 
instils  into  it  the  principle  of  unselfishness,  when  it 
ennobles  every  act  by  the  thought  of  attaining  an 
ideal  perfection.  Yes,  the  angels  commend  that 
love;  it  leads  to  the  knowledge  of  God.  To  perfect, 
to  hide  from  him  even  the  knowledge  of  the  terrible 
jealousy  that  kindles  in  your  heart,  to  give  him 
everything  that  he  wishes  were  it  to  your  own  hurt, 
to  love  what  he  loves,  to  have  your  face  turned 
towards  him  unceasingly,  to  make  yourself  worthy 
of  him  you  love,  to  make  for  him  a  thousand  secret 
sacrifices,  to  worship  him  from  afar,  to  give  your 
blood  drop  by  drop,  to  sacrifice  your  self-love  for 
his  sake,  to  have  no  more  pride  nor  anger  with  him, 
toward  him,  to  follow  him  though  he  knows  it  not: 
this  love,  religion  would  have  pardoned;  it  would 
have  offended  neither  the  laws  of  men  nor  of  God 
and  would  have  led  into  a  different  path  from  that 
of  your  filthy  pleasures." 

As  she  heard  this  dreadful  judgment  pronounced 
in  these  words — and  what  words  they  were  and 
with  what  accent  spoken! — Esther  felt  a  natural 
distrust.  This  speech  was  like  a  peal  of  thunder 
that  presages  the  bursting  of  the  storm.  She  looked 
at  the  priest  and  felt  that  cold  sinking  of  the  heart 
which  the  boldest  feel  in  the  presence  of  imminent 
and  sudden  danger.  No  look  could  have  read  what 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  43 

was  passing  within  this  man,  but  for  the  bravest 
there  was  more  to  dread  than  to  hope  in  the  aspect 
of  his  eyes,  clear  and  yellow  as  the  eyes  of  tigers 
and  over  which  austerity  and  fasting  had  spread  a 
veil  like  to  that  which  rests  on  the  horizon  through 
the  dog-days:  the  earth  is  hot  and  dazzling,  but  the 
mist  renders  it  indistinct  and  vaporous;  it  is  almost 
invisible.  A  severity  quite  Spanish:  deep  furrows, 
made  hideous  and  like  to  deep  ruts  by  the  thousand 
scars  of  a  frightful  attack  of  small-pox,  ploughed  his 
olive,  sunburned  face.  His  stern  features  were  set 
off  by  the  frame  of  the  stiff  wig  of  a  priest  who  cares 
not  how  he  looks,  a  wig  close  cut  and  of  a  black 
that  reddened  in  the  light.  His  athletic  chest,  his 
soldier-like  hands,  his  carriage,  his  powerful  shoul- 
ders were  those  of  the  caryatides  which  architects  of 
the  Middle  Ages  have  employed  in  some  palaces 
of  Italy  and  which  recall  vaguely  the  figures  on  the 
facade  of  the  theatre  of  the  Porte  Saint  Martin. 
The  least  clear-sighted  people  might  have  known 
that  burning  passions  or  strange  accidents  had 
thrown  this  man  into  the  bosom  of  the  Church. 
Surely  the  most  astounding  thunderbolts  alone 
could  have  changed  him,  if  such  a  nature  could  be 
changed.  Women  who  have  led  the  life  so  vio- 
lently repudiated  by  Esther  arrive  at  a  complete 
indifference  to  the  outward  forms  of  man.  They 
resemble  the  literary  critic  of  to-day  who  can  be 
compared  to  them  in  several  ways,  and  who  becomes 
absolutely  indifferent  to  the  rules  of  art.  He  has 
read  so  many  works,  he  has  seen  so  many  pass 


44  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

away,  he  is  so  accustomed  to  written  pages,  he  has 
witnessed  the  unraveling  of  so  many  plots,  he  has 
seen  so  many  dramas,  he  has  written  so  many 
articles  without  saying  what  he  thinks,  he  has  be- 
trayed the  cause  of  art  so  often  for  the  sake  of  his 
own  likes  and  dislikes,  that  he  comes  to  feel  dis° 
gust  for  everything,  and  yet  he  continues  to  pass 
judgment.  There  is  need  of  a  miracle  to  enable 
this  writer  to  produce  a  great  work;  just  as  pure, 
noble  love  is  only  by  a  miracle  born  in  the  heart 
of  a  courtesan.  The  tone  and  the  manner  of  this 
priest,  who  might  have  stepped  from  a  canvas  of 
Zurbaran,  seemed  so  hostile  to  this  poor  girl  that, 
little  as  exteriors  meant  for  her,  she  felt  herself  less 
an  object  of  the  shepherd's  care  than  the  central 
subject  of  some  scheme.  Unable  to  distinguish 
between  the  wheedling  of  self-interest  and  the  holy 
grace  of  charity,  for  only  doubled  care  can  detect 
the  false  money  of  a  friend,  she  felt  herself, 
as  it  were,  between  the  claws  of  some  fierce  and 
monstrous  bird  which  had  swooped  down  on  her  after 
circling  for  some  time  overhead,  and  in  her  terror 
she  said  these  words  in  a  frightened  voice  : 

"I  thought  that  priests  were  bidden  to  comfort  us, 
and  you  are  killing  me!" 

At  this  cry  of  innocence  the  ecclesiastic  made  a 
gesture  and  said  nothing;  he  was  collecting  his 
thoughts  before  answering.  During  this  instant 
these  two  persons  so  singularly  brought  together 
scrutinized  each  other  furtively.  The  priest  under- 
stood the  girl,  but  the  girl  could  not  understand  the 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  45 

priest.  Doubtless  he  gave  up  some  design  which 
threatened  poor  Esther  and  returned  to  his  first  plan. 

"We  are  the  healers  of  souls,"  said  he  gently, 
"and  we  know  what  medicines  suit  their  maladies." 

"  Much  must  be  forgiven  misery,"  said  Esther. 

She  thought  herself  mistaken,  and  slipping  down 
from  her  bed  she  flung  herself  at  the  man's  feet, 
kissed  his  cassock  with  the  deepest  humility,  and 
lifted  toward  him  her  eyes  filled  with  tears. 

"  I  thought  that  I  had  done  much,"  said  she. 

"  Listen,  my  child.  Your  fatal  reputation  has 
plunged  Lucien's  family  into  mourning.  They  are 
afraid,  and  with  some  justice,  that  you  will  drag 
him  into  dissipation,  into  a  world  of  follies." 

"  It  is  true;  I  myself  took  him  to  the  ball  to  entrap 
him." 

"  You  are  so  beautiful  that  he  wishes  to  glory  in 
you  before  the  eyes  of  the  world,  to  display  you 
proudly  and  exhibit  you  like  a  horse.  If  it  were 
only  money  that  he  wasted!  But  he  will  waste  his 
time,  his  strength;  he  will  lose  his  desire  for  the 
high  destinies  which  they  wish  to  be  his.  Instead 
of  being  some  day  ambassador,  rich,  admired, 
famous,  he  will  become,  like  many  another  libertine 
who  has  drowned  his  talents  in  Paris  mud,  the  lover 
of  an  impure  woman.  As  for  you,  you  will  later 
take  up  your  former  life,  after  having  risen  for  a 
moment  to  a  lofty  sphere,  for  you  have  not  in  you; 
that  which  a  sound  education  gives — strength  to 
resist  evil  and  to  think  of  the  future.  You  will 
never  break  loose  from  your  companions  any  further 


46  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

than  you  have  broken  loose  from  those  people  who 
shamed  you  at  the  Opera  this  morning.  The  true 
friends  of  Lucien,  alarmed  by  the  love  which  you 
have  inspired  in  him,  have  dogged  his  steps,  have 
learned  all.  Full  of  consternation  they  have  sent 
me  to  you  to  sound  your  feelings  and  to  decide 
your  fate.  But  although  they  are  strong  enough 
to  rid  this  young  man's  path  of  a  stumbling-block, 
they  are-  merciful.  Know  this,  my  daughter:  a 
woman  whom  Lucien  loves  has  a  right  to  their 
regard,  for  a  true  Christian  worships  the  mire 
where  perchance  has  strayed  a  ray  of  the  divine 
light.  I  have  come  as  the  agent  of  their  kindness; 
but  had  1  found  you  wholly  obst:nate  and  armed 
with  effrontery  and  cunning,  corrupt  to  the  marrow 
and  deaf  to  the  voice  of  repentance,  I  would  have 
abandoned  you  to  their  anger.  This  civil  and  po- 
litical freedom,  so  hard  to  get,  which  for  society's 
sake  the  police  are  loath  to  give,  and  which  I  have 
heard  you  long  for  with  all  the  ardor  of  true  re- 
pentance— here  it  is,"  said  the  priest,  drawing  from 
his  belt  a  paper  of  official  appearance.  "  They  saw 
you  yesterday;  this  notification  is  dated  to-day:  you 
see  the  power  of  the  persons  who  are  interested  in 
Lucien." 

At  the  sight  of  this  paper,  that  convulsive  tremor 
which  is  caused  by  an  unexpected  joy  moved  Esther 
so  sincerely  that  she  had  on  her  lips  a  smile  such 
as  an  idiot  wears.  The  priest  paused,  looked  at 
the  child  to  see  whether,  deprived  of  that  hideous 
force  which  sinful  people  draw  even  from  their  sin 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  47 

and  restored  to  her  original  frail  and  delicate  nature, 
she  would  resist  her  strongest  impulses.  Deceitful 
courtesan,  Esther  had  played  the  comedy;  but  be- 
come once  more  innocent  and  true  she  might  die  as 
a  blind  man  suddenly  cured  may  lose  his  sight 
afresh  if  he  be  struck  by  too  brilliant  light.  This 
man  at  this  moment  saw  human  nature  to  its  bot- 
tom, but  he  remained  in  a  calm  terrible  from 
its  fixity.  He  was  a  frozen  Alp,  white  and  near 
to  heaven,  immovable  and  disdainful,  with  sides 
of  granite  and  yet  beneficent.  Women  of  the 
streets  are  essentially  emotional  creatures;  they 
pass  from  the  most  obstinate  distrust  to  the  most 
perfect  confidence.  In  this  respect  they  are  below 
the  animal.  Excessive  in  everything,  in  their  joys, 
in  their  despairs,  in  their  religion,  in  their  irreligion, 
almost  all  go  mad  if  death,  which  has  a  high  rate 
among  their  kind,  did  not  decimate  them,  and  if  lucky 
chances  did  not  raise  some  of  them  above  the  mire 
in  which  they  live.  He  who  would  penetrate  to  the 
depths  of  misery  of  this  horrible  life  must  see  how 
deep  a  woman  can  sink  into  madness  without  rest- 
ing there  by  gazing  in  wonder  at  the  wild  ecstasy 
of  La  Torpille  on  her  knees  before  the  priest.  The 
poor  girl  looked  at  the  redeeming  paper  with  an 
expression  which  Dante  forgot,  and  which  sur- 
passed the  inventions  of  his  hell.  But  with  the 
reaction  came  the  tears.  Esther  rose,  threw  her 
arms  about  this  man's  neck,  laid  her  head  on  his 
breast,  let  her  tears  trickle  down,  kissed  the  coarse 
cloth  that  covered  this  heart  of  steel,  and  seemed 


48  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

to  wish  to  reach  the  heart  itself.  She  seized  this 
man,  covered  his  hands  with  kisses,  in  a  holy  burst 
of  gratitude  she  used  ali  her  softest  caresses.  Lav- 
ishing upon  him  the  sweetest  names,  in  the  midst 
of  her  sugared  words  she  whispered:  "  Give  it  to 
me,"  a  thousand  times  and  with  a  thousand  into- 
nations. She  folded  him  in  her  tender  embraces, 
covered  him  with  her  glances  with  a  rapidity  which 
left  him  defenceless;  at  length  she  succeeded  in  allay- 
ing his  anger.  The  priest  knew  how  well  this  girl  had 
deserved  her  surname;  he  knew  how  hard  it  was 
to  resist  this  fascinating  creature.  All  at  once  he 
understood  Lucien's  love  and  what  it  was  that  had 
seduced  the  poet.  Passion  like  this  hides,  beneath 
a  thousand  allurements,  a  barbed  hook  which  soon- 
est pierces  the  lofty  soul  of  the  artist.  These 
passions,  unintelligible  to  the  crowd,  are  perfectly 
explained  by  that  thirst  for  the  ideal  which  charac- 
terizes creative  minds.  Does  it  not  bring  us  near 
to  the  angels  charged  to  bring  back  the  erring  into 
the  path  of  right,  to  purify  a  creature  such  as  this 
— is  it  not  to  create?  What  an  incentive,  to  unite 
moral  beauty  to  physical  beauty!  What  proud  hap- 
piness to  succeed!  What  an  ideal  task  is  that  which 
needs  no  weapon  but  love!  These  connections, 
illustrated  besides  by  the  example  of  Aristotle,  of 
Socrates,  of  Plato,  of  Alcibiades,  of  Cethegus,  of 
Pompey,  and  so  monstrous  in  the  eyes  of  the  mul- 
titude, are  founded  upon  the  sentiment  which  led 
Louis  XIV.  to  build  Versailles,  which  drives  men  to 
all  ruinous  ventures:  to  convert  the  miasmas  of  a 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  49 

morass  into  a  sweet  smelling  hill  surrounded  by 
running  waters;  to  place  a  lake  upon  a  hill,  as  the 
Prince  of  Conti  did  at  Nointel,  or  Swiss  landscapes 
at  Cassan,  like  Bergeret,  the  farmer  of  the  revenue. 
In  short  it  is  art  making  incursions  into  the  domain 
of  morality. 

The  priest,  ashamed  of  having  yielded  to  this 
affectionate  demonstration,  pushed  Esther  from  him 
sharply.  She  sat  down  ashamed  too,  for  he  said  to 
her: 

"  You  are  still  a  courtesan." 

He  coolly  placed  the  letter  in  his  belt.  Like  a  child 
with  but  one  desire  in  its  mind,  Esther  did  not  take 
her  eyes  from  that  part  of  his  girdle  which  covered 
the  paper. 

"My  child,"  went  on  the  priest  after  a  pause, 
"  your  mother  was  a  Jewess  and  you  have  never 
been  baptized,  but  you  have  never  been  taken  to 
the  synagogue.  You  are  within  the  religious  limbo 
of  little  children." 

"  Little  children,"  repeated  she  in  a  pathetic  voice. 

"  Just  as  on  the  police  charts  you  are  a  figure 
beyond  the  pale  of  society,"  continued  the  priest 
unmoved.  "  If  some  chance  love  has  made  you 
believe,  three  months  ago,  that  you  were  !?orn  again 
you  should  feel  that  since  that  day  you  are  become 
a  child.  Thus  you  must  be  guided  as  though  you 
were  a  child;  you  must  change  absolutely,  and  it  is 
my  duty  to  make  you  unrecognizable.  First  of 
all,  you  must  forget  Lucien." 

The  poor  girl  felt  her  heart  breaking  at  this  word. 
4 


50  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

She  looked  into  the  priest's  face  and  made  a  sign 
of  refusal.  She  felt  that  her  saviour  was  her 
executioner,  and  could  not  speak. 

"  At  least,  you  wil!  give  up  seeing  him,"  he  went 
on.  "  I  will  take  you  to  a  convent  where  young 
girls  of  good  family  receive  their  education.  You 
will  become  a  Catholic,  you  will  be  instructed 
in  the  practice  of  Christian  rites,  you  will  learn 
religion;  you  will  come  away  a  girl,  accomplished, 
chaste,  pure,  well-educated,  if — " 

The  man  raised  his  finger  and  paused. 

"If,"  he  continued,  "you  have  the  strength  to 
leave  La  Torpille  behind." 

"  Ah,"  cried  the  poor  child,  for  whom  every  word 
had  been  a  note  of  music  at  whose  sound  the  gates 
of  paradise  were  slowly  opening,  "  ah,  if  I  could 
spill  all  my  blood  here  and  be  made  anew!" 

"Listen." 

She  was  silent. 

"Your  future  depends  upon  your  power  of  for- 
getting. Think  of  the  obligations  you  are  under. 
A  word,  a  gesture  which  should  betray  La  Torpille 
kills  the  wife  of  Lucien;  a  syllable  spoken  in  a 
dream,  an  involuntary  thought,  an  unchaste  look, 
an  impatient  movement,  a  recollection  of  your  dis- 
solute past,  a  duty  left  undone,  a  motion  of  the 
head  which  should  reveal  what  you  know  or  what 
has  been  known  to  your  misfortune — " 

"  Go  on,  my  father,"  said  the  girl  with  the  exalta- 
tion of  a  saint,  "to  walk  in  shoes  of  red-hot  iron 
and  smile,  to  live  clad  in  a  corset  armed  with  teeth 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  51 

and  preserve  the  grace  of  a  dancing  girl,  to  eat 
bread  sprinkled  with  ashes,  and  drink  wormwood,  all 
will  be  sweet,  easy." 

She  fell  on  her  knees,  she  kissed  the  priest's 
shoes,  she  wet  them  with  her  tears,  she  seized 
his  legs  and  embraced  them,  muttering  incoherent 
words  through  her  tears  of  joy.  The  fair  locks  of 
her  wonderful  hair  streamed  down  and  -ested  like  a 
carpet  beneath  the  feet  of  this  heavenly  messenger, 
yet  when  she  arose  and  looked  at  him  she  saw  him 
gloomy  and  severe. 

"In  what  have  I  offended  you?"  said  she  in 
alarm.  "  I  have  heard  of  a  woman  like  myself  who 
bathed  in  perfumes  the  feet  of  Jesus  Christ.  Virtue 
has  made  me  so  poor  that  I  have  nothing  but  tears 
to  offer  you." 

"  Did  you  not  hear  me?"  answered  he  in  a  cruel 
voice.  "  I  tell  you  that  you  must  come  out  of  the 
house  where  I  shall  take  you,  so  changed  in  body 
and  soul  that  not  a  man  or  woman  who  has  known 
you  can  cry  out  '  Esther'  and  make  you  turn  your 
head.  Yesterday  love  did  not  give  you  the  strength 
to  bury  the  prostitute  too  deep  to  rise  again;  she 
appears  afresh  in  worship  that  is  not  addressed  to 
God." 

"  Was  it  not  he  that  sent  you  to  me?"  she  said. 

"  If  during  your  education  you  were  even  seen 
by  Lucien,  all  would  be  lost,"  replied  he.  "  Re- 
member that.'' 

"Who  will  comfort  him?"  she  asked. 

"In  what  would  you  comfort  him?"  demanded 


52  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

the  priest  in  a  voice  which  for  the  first  time  during 
the  scene  betrayed  a  nervous  tremor. 

"  I  don't  know.    He  is  often  sad." 

"Sad!"  replied  the  priest.  "Did  he  tell  you 
why?" 

"Never,"  answered  she. 

"  He  was  sad  because  he  loved  a  girl  such  as 
you,"  cried  he. 

"Ah,  yes,  he  must  have  been,"  she  replied  with 
deep  humility.  "  I  am  the  most  despicable  creature 
of  my  sex,  and  I  could  only  find  favor  in  his  eyes 
by  the  force  of  my  love." 

"  That  love  should  give  you  courage  to  obey  me 
blindly.  If  I  were  to  take  you  at  once  to  the  house 
where  you  are  to  be  educated,  everybody  here 
would  tell  Lucien  that  you  had  gone  away  to-day, 
Sunday,  with  a  priest;  he  would  be  on  your  track. 
In  a  week,  the  janitress,  not  seeing  me  return,  will 
take  me  for  that  which  I  am  not.  Then,  in  the 
evening  seven  days  from  to-day,  at  seven  o'clock, 
you  will  slip  out  quietly  and  get  into  a  cab  which 
will  be  in  waiting  for  you  below  the  rue  des  Fron- 
deurs.  During  the  week,  shun  Lucien;  contrive 
excuses,  put  him  off,  and  when  he  comes,  go  up- 
stairs to  some  friend's  room.  I  shall  know  if  you 
have  seen  him,  and  in  that  case  everything  would 
be  ended;  I  should  not  even  return.  You  need  this 
week  in  order  to  buy  yourself  decent  gowns  and  to 
lay  aside  your  wanton  appearance,"  said  he,  placing 
a  purse  on  the  mantel-piece.  "  There  is  something 
about  your  manner  and  your  clothes  which  Parisians 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  53 

know  well  and  which  tells  them  what  you  are.  Have 
you  never,  on  the  streets  or  boulevards,  met  a 
modest  and  pure  girl  walking  with  her  mother?" 

"  Oh,  yes.  It  always  hurts  me.  To  see  a  mother 
with  her  daughter  is  one  of  our  worst  punishments. 
It  awakens  the  remorse  hidden  within  the  folds  of 
our  hearts,  which  eats  into  us.  I  know  only  too 
well  what  it  is  I  need." 

"  Very  well,  then,  you  know  what  you  are  to  be 
next  Sunday,"  said  the  priest  rising. 

"Oh,"  said  she,  " teach  me  a  real  prayer 
before  you  go,  so  that  I  may  pray  to  God." 

It  was  a  touching  sight  to  see  this  priest  making 
this  girl  repeat  the  Ave  Maria  and  the  Pater  Noster 
in  French. 

"  They  are  very  beautiful!"  said  Esther,  after  she 
had  twice  and  without  a  mistake  repeated  these  two 
splendid  and  familiar  expressions  of  the  Catholic 
faith. 

"What  is  your  name?"  she  asked  of  the  priest 
when  he  bade  her  good-bye. 

"  Carlos  Herrera.  I  am  a  Spaniard  and  banished 
from  my  country." 

Esther  took  his  hand  and  kissed  it;  she  was  no 
longer  a  courtesan;  she  was  an  angel  rising  from  a 
fall. 


In  a  house  celebrated  for  the  religious  and  aristo- 
cratic training  which  it  gave,  one  Monday  morning 
early  in  the  month  of  March  of  this  year,  the  schol- 
ars saw  their  pretty  group  increased  by  a  new- 
comer, whose  beauty  triumphed  undisputed  not 
only  over  her  comrades,  but  even  over  those  espe- 
cial and  perfect  details  of  beauty  which  were  found 
among  them.  In  France  it  is  excessively  rare,  not  to 
say  impossible,  to  find  the  thirty  famous  graces  de- 
scribed in  Persian  verses — carved,  they  say,  within 
the  seraglio — ,  and  which  a  woman  must  have  to  be 
wholly  beautiful.  In  France,  although  few  are 
combined,  there  are  exquisite  details.  The  impos- 
ing whole,  which  sculpture  seeks  to  attain  and  which 
it  has  attained  in  a  few  rare  works  like  the  Diana 
and  the  Calypso,  is  the  privilege  of  Greece  and  of 
Asia  Minor.  Esther  had  come  from  this  cradle  of 
the  human  race,  the  native  land  of  beauty:  her 
mother  was  a  Jewess.  The  Jews,  although  so  often 
degraded  by  their  contact  with  other  peoples, 
offer  amongst  their  many  tribes  certain  strains  which 
still  preserve  the  sublime  type  of  Asiatic  beauty. 
When  they  have  not  a  repulsive  ugliness  they  bear 
the  magnificent  stamp  of  Armenian  faces.  Esther 
would  have  borne  off  the  prize  at  the  seraglio;  she 

(55) 


56  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

possessed  the  thirty  beauties  harmoniously  inter- 
mingled. Far  from  injuring  the  finished  loveliness 
of  her  figure  or  the  freshness  of  her  complexion, 
her  strange  life  had  imparted  to  her  something 
womanly.  Her  skin  had  no  longer  the  polished 
firmness  of  green  fruit,  nor  yet  the  mellowness  of 
the  overripe:  there  were  still  years  for  her  to  bloom. 
A  little  while  more  of  license  would  have  made  her  too 
stout.  This  richness  of  health,  this  perfection  of 
animal  life  in  a  woman  in  whom  sensuality  usurped 
the  place  of  thought,  must  seem  extraordinary  to 
the  eyes  of  physiologists.  By  a  circumstance  rare, 
almost  impossible  among  very  young  girls,  her 
hands,  of  an  admirable  mould,  were  soft,  transpar- 
ent and  white  as  those  of  the  young  mother  of  a 
second  child.  She  had  exactly  the  foot  and  the  hair, 
so  justly  famous,  of  the  Duchesse  de  Berri,  hair  that 
no  maid-in-waiting  could  hold,  so  abundant  was  it, 
and  so  long  that  it  fell  to  the  floor  and  lay  there  in 
coils;  for  Esther  was  of  that  middle  height  which 
allows  a  woman  to  be  made  a  sort  of  plaything  to 
take  up,  to  lay  down,  to  take  once  more  and  to  carry 
without  fatigue.  Her  skin,  fine  as  rice-paper  and  of 
a  warm  amber  color,  shaded  by  red  veins,  was 
radiant  without  dryness,  soft  without  moisture. 
Nervous  to  excess,  but  delicate  in  appearance, 
Esther  attracted  instant  attention  by  a  feature 
prominent  in  the  faces  which  Raphael's  pencil  has 
best  portrayed,  for  Raphael,  of  all  painters,  has  stud- 
ied most  and  rendered  best  the  Jewish  beauty. 
This  wonderful  characteristic  was  formed  by  depth 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  57 

of  the  arch  beneath  which  the  eye  rolled  as  though 
it  were  separate  from  its  frame,  and  whose  sweep,  in 
its  clear  outlines,  resembled  the  inner  curve  of  an 
archway.  When  youth,  with  its  clear  translucent 
tints,  paints  the  lovely  arc  crowned  by  thick  eye- 
brows; when  the  light  falls  upon  the  delicate  curves 
below  and  rests  there  in  its  roseate  brilliance,  there 
are  there  treasures  of  tenderness  to  satisfy  a  lover, 
beauties  to  make  a  painter  despair.  This  is  the 
finishing  touch  of  nature,  these  bright  curves  where 
the  very  shadow  is  golden,  this  tissue  which  has 
the  consistency  of  a  nerve,  the  flexibility  of  the 
most  delicate  membrane.  The  eye  at  rest  within 
is  like  a  magic  eye  in  a  nest  of  silken  threads.  But 
later  this  marvel  is  filled  with  a  fearful  sadness, 
when  passion  has  darkened  these  delicate  outlines, 
when  sorrow  has  scarred  this  network  of  fibres. 
Esther's  birth  betrayed  itself  in  this  oriental  con- 
tour of  her  eyes  with  their  Turkish  lashes  and 
their  gray  slate-color  which  changed  in  the  light  to 
the  bluish  black  of  a  raven's  wing.  The  gentle 
tenderness  of  her  look  could  alone  soften  its  dazzling 
brightness.  It  is  only  the  races  sprung  from  the 
desert  that  hold  within  their  eyes  the  power  of  fas- 
cinating every  one.  For  a  woman  can  always 
fascinate  some  one.  Doubtless,  their  eyes  keep 
something  of  the  infinite  which  they  have  contem- 
plated. Has  nature,  in  her  foresight,  provided  their 
retinas,  with  a  reflecting  curtain  that  enables  them 
to  retain  the  image  of  the  sands,  the  floods  of  sun- 
light, the  burning  cobalt  of  the  atmosphere?  Or  do 


58  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

human  beings,  like  the  other  things  of  nature,  take 
something  from  their  environment  and  keep  through 
all  the  centuries  the  qualities  which  they  draw  from 
it?  This  great  solution  of  the  race  problem  is  per- 
haps hidden  within  the  question  itself.  Instincts 
are  living  facts,  of  which  the  cause  lies  in  necessity 
that  has  been  undergone.  The  animal  species  are 
the  results  of  the  use  of  these  instincts.  To  be 
convinced  of  this  truth  so  long  sought,  it  suffices 
to  extend  to  bodies  of  men  the  experiment  recently 
made  upon  flocks  of  English  and  Spanish  sheep,  which, 
in  the  meadows  of  valleys  where  grass  abounds, 
graze  close  together,  while  they  scatter  on  the 
mountains,  where  grass  is  rare.  Take  these  two  varie- 
ties of  sheep  away  from  their  respective  countries  and 
transport  them  to  Switzerland  or  to  France,  the  moun- 
tain sheep  will  graze  apart  though  the  meadow  be  low 
and  covered  with  luxuriant  grass;  the  meadow  sheep 
will  feed  rubbing  against  one  another  though  they  be 
on  an  Alp.  Many  generations  hardly  alter  instincts 
acquired  and  transmitted.  After  a  hundred  years  the 
character  of  the  mountain  breed  reappears  in  an  ob- 
stinate sheep,  just  as  after  eighteen  hundred  years  of 
banishment  the  east  glowed  in  Esther's  eyes  and  face. 
This  look  had  no  terrible  fascination;  it  cast  a  gentle 
warmth,  a  natural  tenderness,  and  the  hardest  wills 
melted  beneath  its  flame.  Esther  had  conquered  hate; 
she  had  amazed  the  licentious  youth  of  Paris,  yet  this 
look  and  the  softness  of  her  velvet  skin  had  won  for 
her  the  terrible  surname  which  had  almost  brought 
her  to  the  grave.  Every  part  of  her  was  in  harmony 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  59 

with  the  character  of  the  fairy  of  the  blazing  sands. 
Her  forehead  was  strong  and  proudly  moulded.  Her 
nose,  like  an  Arab  woman's,  was  delicate  and  tender, 
with  oval  nostrils  well  placed  and  somewhat  ex- 
posed to  view.  Her  mouth,  red  and  fresh,  was  a 
rose  unstained  by  trace  of  orgy.  Her  chin,  modeled 
as  if  some  loving  sculptor  had  polished  its  curve, 
was  white  as  milk.  One  thing  alone,  for  which 
she  had  no  remedy,  betrayed  the  fallen  courtesan: 
torn  fingernails  which  needed  time  before  they 
could  look  like  a  lady's,  so  much  had  their  shape 
been  injured  by  the  lowest  cares  of  housework. 
Her  schoolmates  began  by  envying  these  miracles 
of  beauty,  but  their  jealousy  turned  to  admiration. 
The  first  week  did  not  pass  before  they  were  de- 
voted to  the  simple  Esther,  for  they  were  interested 
in  the  secret  misfortunes  of  a  girl  of  eighteen  who 
could  neither  read  nor  write,  who  had  never  learned 
nor  even  been  taught,  and  who  would  bring  to  the 
archbishop  the  glory  of  the  conversion  of  a  Jew  to 
Catholicism,  and  to  the  convent  the  f£te  of  a  bap- 
tism. They  felt  the  superiority  of  their  education 
and  pardoned  her  beauty.  Esther  soon  acquired 
the  manners,  the  softness  of  voice,  the  bearing 
and  the  attitudes  of  these  high-born  girls;  in  short 
she  found  once  more  her  earlier  nature.  The 
change  became  so  complete  that  at  his  first  visit, 
Herrera,  who  seemed  incapable  of  surprise,  was 
amazed,  and  the  sister  superior  complimented  him 
on  his  ward.  The  teachers  had  never  in  their 
career  met  with  a  disposition  more  lovely,  gentleness 


60  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

more  Christian,  modesty  more  sincere,  nor  a  greater 
desire  to  learn.  When  a  girl  has  suffered  the  ills 
that  had  been  heaped  upon  this  poor  scholar,  and 
while  she  awaits  a  reward  such  as  the  Spaniard  had 
promised  Esther,  it  is  not  hard  for  her  to  realize 
those  miracles  of  the  early  Church  which  the  Jesuits 
repeated  in  Paraguay. 

"  She  is  edifying,"  said  the  sister  superior,  kissing 
her  forehead. 

This  word,  so  thoroughly  Catholic,  told  all. 

During  the  time  for  recreation,  Esther  asked  her 
companions  modestly  about  the  simplest  things  in  the 
world,  and  for  her  they  were  what  the  first  sur- 
prises of  life  are  for  a  baby.  When  she  learned 
that  on  the  day  of  her  baptism  and  of  her  first  com- 
munion she  would  be  dressed  in  white,  that  she 
would  have  a  bonnet  of  white  satin,  white  ribbons, 
white  shoes,  white  gloves,  and  that  her  hair  would 
be  tied  with  white  bows,  she  burst  into  tears  in  the 
midst  of  her  amazed  companions.  It  was  the  scene 
of  Jephtha  on  the  mountain  reversed.  The  courtesan 
was  afraid  of  being  understood;  she  cast  off  her 
terrible  sorrow  in  the  joy  that  the  anticipation  of 
this  ceremony  caused  her.  As  there  is  surely  as 
great  a  gulf  between  the  manners  she  had  left 
behind  and  the  manners  she  had  assumed,  as  there 
is  between  the  savage  state  and  civilization,  she 
had  the  grace,  the  simplicity,  the  depth  which  dis- 
tinguish the  wonderful  heroine  of  the  Puritans  of 
America.  She  had  also,  though  she  herself  knew 
it  not,  a  love  gnawing  at  her  heart,  a  strange  love, 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  6l 

a  longing  more  intense  in  her  who  knew  everything 
than  it  could  be  in  a  virgin  who  knows  nothing,  even 
though  these  two  desires  had  the  same  cause  and 
the  same  goal.  During  the  first  months  the  novelty 
of  a  secluded  life,  the  surprises  of  study,  the  occupa- 
tions she  was  taught,  the  practices  of  religion,  the 
fervor  of  a  holy  purpose,  the  tenderness  of  the 
affection  she  inspired,  and  most  of  all  the  exercise 
of  the  faculties  of  awakened  intelligence — every- 
thing helped  her  to  forget  the  past,  even  the  fresh 
efforts  of  memory  which  she  made:  for  she  frad  as 
much  to  unlearn  as  to  learn.  There  are,  in  us, 
many  memories:  the  body,  the  mind,  each  has  its 
own.  Homesickness,  for  example,  is  a  disease  of 
physical  memory.  During  the  third  month  the 
strength  of  this  virgin  soul,  which  stretched  its 
wings  toward  heaven,  was,  not  conquered,  but 
shackled  by  a  secret  resistance,  the  cause  of  which 
Esther  herself  did  not  know.  Like  the  sheep  of 
Scotland,  she  wished  to  graze  apart;  she  could  not 
overcome  the  instincts  developed  by  license.  Were 
the  muddy  streets  of  Paris,  which  she  had  renounced, 
calling  her  to  come  back?  Did  the  broken  chains 
of  her  evil  habits  still  hold  her  by  forgotten  links? 
Did  she  still  feel  them,  as,  according  to  doctors,  old 
soldiers  still  suffer  in  the  limbs  which  they  have 
lost?  Had  vice  and  its  excesses  eaten  to  the  mar- 
row of  her  bones  where  the  holy  water  could  not 
reach  the  devil  lurking  within?  Was  the  sight  of 
him,  for  whose  sake  these  angelic  efforts  were 
made,  necessary  to  her  whom  God  would  pardon  for 


62  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

mingling  human  love  with  love  divine?  One  had 
led  to  the  other.  Had  there  taken  place  in  her  an 
upheaval  of  the  vital  force  which  entailed  this  inevi- 
table suffering?  All  is  doubt  and  darkness  in  a 
situation  that  science  has  disdained  to  examine, 
finding  the  subject  too  immoral  and  too  com- 
promising, as  if  the  physician,  the  writer,  the  priest 
and  the  statesman  were  not  above  suspicion.  In 
spite  of  this  a  physician  has  had  the  courage  to 
begin  these  studies,  left  incomplete.  He  was  over- 
taken by  death.  Perhaps  the  black  melancholy 
which  preyed  upon  Esther  and  cast  a  shadow  over 
her  happy  life  was  made  up  of  all  these  reasons:  and, 
unable  to  comprehend  them,  perhaps  she  suffered 
as  the  sick  suffer  who  have  never  known  medicine 
or  surgery.  It  is  a  strange  thing.  Abundant  and 
healthful  food  instead  of  the  hateful  food  of  excite- 
ment could  not  sustain  Esther.  A  pure  and  regular 
life,  divided  between  tasks  designedly  moderate  and 
amusements,  substituted  for  an  ill-ordered  life  where 
the  pleasures  were  as  horrible  as  the  pains,  saddened 
the  poor  girl.  The  sweet  repose,  the  quiet  nights 
which  replaced  exhausting  fatigues  and  cruel  emo- 
tions, gave  her  a  fever  which  escaped  the  practiced 
eye  of  the  matron.  In  short,  good  and  happiness, 
succeeding  to  ill  and  misfortune,  the  security  follow- 
ing unrest,  were  as  painful  to  Esther  as  her  miser- 
able past  would  have  been  to  her  young  companions. 
Planted  in  corruption,  she  had  grown  up  in  its 
midst.  The  hellish  rule  of  her  early  home  swayed 
her  still  in  spite  of  the  sovereign  commands  of  an 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  63 

absolute  will.  That  which  she  hated  was  her  very 
life,  that  which  she  loved  was  killing  her.  Her  faith 
was  so  strong  that  her  piety  delighted  everybody. 
She  loved  to  pray.  She  had  opened  her  soul  to  the 
light  of  the  true  faith,  and  she  received  it  without 
effort,  without  doubt.  The  priest  who  guided  her  was 
enraptured;  but  with  her  the  body  thwarted  the  soul 
at  every  turn.  Once  carp  were  taken  from  a  muddy 
pond  and  placed  in  beautiful  clear  water  in  a  marble 
basin,  in  order  to  satisfy  a  wish  of  Madame  de  Main- 
tenon,  who  fed  them  with  fragments  from  the  royal 
table.  The  carp  slowly  died.  Animals  may  be 
devoted,  but  man  will  never  taint  them  with  the 
leprosy  of  flattery.  A  courtier  noticed  this  silent 
protest  in  Versailles.  "  They  are  like  me,"  said  the 
unacknowledged  queen;  "  they  mourn  the  dirty  pools 
which  they  have  lost."  This  sentence  is  the  whole 
story  of  Esther.  At  times  the  poor  girl  felt  driven 
to  run  about  the  splendid  gardens  of  the  convent, 
she  rushed  quickly  from  tree  to  tree,  she  flung  her- 
self desperately  down  in  the  dark  corners,  seeking 
what?  She  knew  not,  but  she  yielded  to  the 
demon,  she  coquetted  with  the  trees,  she  spoke  to 
them  in  words  she  did  not  pronounce.  Sometimes 
in  the  evening  she  glided  along  the  walls  like  a 
snake,  without  a  shawl,  her  shoulders  bare.  Often 
at  chapel,  during  the  services,  she  knelt  with  her 
eyes  fastened  on  the  cross,  and  everybody  marveled 
at  her  as  her  tears  ran;  but  she  wept  for  vexation; 
in  place  of  the  sacred  images  she  longed  to  see,  the 
dazzling  nights  when  she  had  led  the  orgy,  as 


64  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

Habeneck  leads  a  symphony  of  Beethoven  at  the 
Conservatory,  those  nights  filled  with  mirth  and 
wantonness,  quivering  with  frantic  life  and  laughter, 
arose  before  her  wild,  savage,  brutal.  Without, 
she  was  tranquil  as  a  virgin  held  to  earth  by  her 
woman's  form  alone;  within,  she  was  an  imperial 
Messalina.  She  alone  knew  this  secret  combat  of 
devil  against  angel.  When  the  sister  superior  re- 
proved her  for  doing  her  hair  more  elaborately  than 
the  rules  allowed,  she  altered  it  with  sweet  and 
ready  obedience.  She  was  willing  to  cut  it  off,  if 
the  sister  had  ordered  it.  This  homesickness  had  a 
touching  grace  in  a  girl  who  had  rather  die  than  re- 
turn to  her  impure  home.  She  grew  pale,  changed, 
thin.  The  sister  superior  lightened  her  tasks  and 
took  the  interesting  girl  to  her  room  to  question  her. 
Esther  was  happy;  she  was  delighted  with  her  com- 
panions; she  did  not  feel  wounded  in  a  vital  spot, 
and  yet  her  vitality  was  deeply  wounded.  She  re- 
gretted nothing;  she  wished  for  nothing.  The  sister, 
amazed  by  her  scholar's  answers,  knew  not  what  to 
think  as  she  saw  her  drooping  beneath  this  over- 
powering languor.  When  the  young  girl's  condition 
looked  grave  the  doctor  was  called,  but  the  doctor 
knew  nothing  of  Esther's  former  life  and  could  not 
suspect  it.  He  found  life  everywhere,  suffering  no- 
where. The  malady  upset  all  hypotheses.  There 
remained  one  way  of  casting  light  upon  the  physi- 
cian's doubts  which  entailed  a  terrible  idea.  Esther 
refused  obstinately  to  submit  to  an  examination  by 
the  doctor.  In  this  difficulty,  the  sister  called  upon 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  65 

the  Abbe  Herrera.  The  Spaniard  came,  saw  Esther's 
desperate  condition,  and  talked  for  a  moment  in 
secret  with  the  doctor.  After  this  confidence,  the 
man  of  science  announced  to  the  man  of  faith  that 
the  only  hope  was  a  journey  to  Italy.  The  priest 
did  not  wish  this  journey  to  be  made  before  Esther's 
baptism  and  first  communion. 

"  How  much  time  is  needed?"  asked  the  doctor. 

"  One  month,"  answered  the  sister. 

"  She  will  be  dead,"  replied  the  doctor. 

"  Yes,  but  in  a  state  of  grace,  and  saved,"  said 
the  priest. 

In  Spain  the  religious  problem  takes  precedence 
of  all  other  problems,  be  they  political,  civil,  vital. 
The  doctor  did  not  reply  to  the  Spaniard;  he  turned 
toward  the  sister,  but  the  terrible  priest  held  his 
arm  to  stop  him. 

"Not  a  word,"  said  he. 

The  doctor,  pious  and  monarchical  as  he  was, 
cast  upon  Esther  a  look  full  of  tender  compassion. 
This  girl  was  lovely,  a  lily  bending  from  its  stalk. 

"  For  the  love  of  God!"  cried  he  as  he  went  out. 

The  same  day  Esther  was  taken  by  her  protector 
to  the  Rocker  de  Cancale,  for  in  his  desire  to  save 
her  the  priest  had  recourse  to  the  strangest  expedi- 
ents. He  tried  a  double  excess:  an  excellent  dinner 
to  bring  back  to  the  poor  girl  the  remembrance  of 
her  orgies;  the  Opera  to  give  her  again  some  glimpses 
of  the  world.  There  was  need  of  all  his  crushing 
authority  to  reconcile  the  young  saint  to  such  world- 
liness.  Herrera  disguised  himself  so  completely  in  a 
5 


66  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

soldier's  uniform  that  Esther  could  scarcely  recog- 
nize him.  He  took  care  to  provide  a  veil  for  his 
companion,  and  placed  her  in  a  box  where  she  was 
hidden  from  the  public  gaze.  This  half-way  remedy, 
that  would  not  endanger  an  innocence  so  perfectly 
regained,  was  soon  exhausted.  Esther  felt  disgust 
for  the  dinners  of  her  protector,  a  religious  aversion 
for  the  theatre,  and  soon  fell  back  into  her  melan- 
choly. 

"  She  is  dying  of  love  for  Lucien,"  thought  Her- 
rera,  who  wished  to  sound  the  depth  of  this  soul, 
and  to  know  what  could  be  exacted  of  it. 

Thus  there  would  come  a  time  when  this  poor 
girl  would  no  longer  be  upheld  by  her  moral  strength 
and  when  her  body  must  yield.  The  priest  calcu- 
lated this  moment  with  that  horrible  sagacity  which 
in  former  times  executioners  employed  in  their  art 
of  putting  a  victim  to  the  torture.  He  found  his 
pupil  in  the  garden,  seated  on  a  bench  against  an 
arbor  caressed  by  the  April  sun;  apparently  she  was 
cold  and  trying  to  warm  herself.  Her  comrades  were 
looking  compassionately  at  her  ashen  paleness, 
her  eyes  like  those  of  a  dying  doe,  and  her  sad  atti- 
tude. Esther  rose  to  meet  the  Spaniard  with  a 
movement  which  showed  how  little  she  had  of  life, 
and,  let  us  say  it,  how  little  taste  she  had  for  life. 
This  poor  vagabond  girl,  this  poor  wounded  swallow 
excited  for  the  second  time  the  pity  of  Carlos  Her- 
rera.  This  gloomy  minister,  whom  God  should  use 
only  to  fulfill  His  vengeance,  received  the  sick  girl 
with  a  smile  as  bitter  as  it  was  tender,  as  revengeful 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  67 

as  it  was  kind.  Accustomed,  during  her  semi-monas- 
tic life  to  meditation  and  to  self-questioning,  Esther 
for  the  second  time  felt  a  thrill  of  distrust  at  the 
sight  of  her  protector;  but,  as  at  the  first  time,  she 
was  reassured  instantly  by  his  words. 

"  My  dear  child,"  said  he,  "  why  have  you  never 
spoken  to  me  about  Lucien?" 

"  I  have  promised  you,"  answered  she,  trembling 
from  head  to  foot  with  a  convulsive  shiver,  "  I  have 
sworn  to  you  never  to  pronounce  that  name." 

"And  yet  you  have  never  ceased  to  think  of  him." 

"That,  sir,  is  my  only  fault.  I  think  of  him  at 
every  hour.  As  you  appeared  I  was  saying  that 
name  to  myself." 

"  Is  it  absence  that  is  killing  you?" 

For  answer,  Esther  bowed  her  head  after  the  man- 
ner of  the  sick  who  already  feel  the  air  of  the  grave. 

"  To  see  him  again?"  said  he. 

"Would  be  to  live,"  she  answered. 

"  Is  it  your  soul  alone  that  thinks  of  him?" 

"Ah,  sir,  love  cannot  be  divided  in  two." 

"  Girl  of  the  accursed  race!  I  have  done  every- 
thing to  save  you.  I  give  you  back  to  your  destiny; 
you  shall  see  him  again!" 

"  Why  do  you  hurt  my  happiness?  Can  I  not 
love  Lucien  and  be  faithful  to  virtue,  which  I  love 
as  I  love  him?  Am  I  not  as  ready  to  die  for  her  as 
I  should  be  to  die  for  him?  Shall  I  not  die  for  these 
two  gods,  for  virtue  which  should  make  me  worthy 
of  him,  for  him  who  has  thrown  me  into  the  arms  of 
virtue?  Yes,  ready  to  die  without  seeing  him  again, 


68  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

ready  to  live  as  I  see  him  once  more.  God  will 
be  my  Judge." 

Her  color  had  returned,  her  pallor  was  tinged 
with  gold.  Yet  again  Esther  awakened  his  pity. 

"  On  the  morrow  of  that  day  when  you  shall  be 
washed  in  the  waters  of  baptism,  you  shall  see 
Lucien  and  if  you  believe  that  in  living  for  him  you 
can  live  virtuous,  you  shall  never  be  separated  from 
him." 

Esther's  knees  gave  way  and  the  priest  was 
obliged  to  lift  her.  The  poor  girl  had  fallen  as 
though  the  earth  had  slipped  from  beneath  her  feet; 
the  priest  seated  her  on  the  bench,  and  as  soon  as 
she  could  speak  she  said: 

"Why  not  to-day?" 

"  Do  you  wish  to  rob  his  reverence  of  the  triumph 
of  your  baptism  and  conversion?  You  are  too  near 
Lucien  not  to  be  far  from  God." 

"  Yes,  I  forgot  everything  else." 

"  You  will  never  belong  to  any  religion,"  said  the 
priest,  with  a  gesture  of  deep  irony. 

"God  is  good,"  she  answered,  "He  reads  my 
heart." 

Captivated  by  the  enchanting  simplicity  which 
broke  forth  in  Esther's  voice  and  look,  attitude  and 
gesture,  Herrera  kissed  her  for  the  first  time  upon 
her  forehead. 

"The  libertines  have  chosen  your  name  well;  you 
would  beguile  God  the  Father  Himself.  You  must 
wait  a  few  days  more  and  then  you  shall  both  be 
free." 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  69 

"  Both?"  repeated  she  in  ecstasy. 

Viewed  from  a  distance  this  scene  amazed  both 
scholars  and  teachers.  They  thought  that  they  had 
witnessed  some  magical  transformation,  as  they 
compared  Esther  with  her  former  self.  The  girl, 
quite  changed,  lived  once  more.  She  reappeared  in 
her  true  loving  nature,  sweet,  coquettish,  impulsive, 
gay.  In  a  word,  she  came  to  life  again! 

Herrera  lived  in  the  rue  Cassette,  close  to  Saint- 
Sulpice,  the  church  to  which  he  was  attached. 
This  church,  built  in  a  severe  barren  style,  suited 
this  Spaniard,  whose  religion  was  derived  from  the 
Dominicans.  A  forlorn  hope  of  the  crafty  policy  of 
Ferdinand  VII.,  he  opposed  the  constitutional  party 
though  he  knew  that  this  devotion  could  never 
be  rewarded  but  by  the  re-establishment  of  "rey 
netto."  And  Carlos  Herrera  gave  himself  body  and 
soul  to  the  "  Camarilla  "  at  a  time  when  the  Cortes 
seemed  in  no  danger  of  being  overthrown.  For  the 
world  this  conduct  bore  witness  of  a  lofty  soul. 
The  expedition  of  the  Due  d'Angoule'me  had  taken 
place,  King  Ferdinand  was  on  the  throne,  and  Carlos 
Herrera  did  not  go  to  Madrid  to  claim  the  price  of 
his  services.  Protected  from  public  curiosity  by  a 
diplomatic  silence,  he  gave,  as  reason  for  his  pro- 
longed stay  at  Paris,  his  warm  affection  for  Lucien 
de  Rubempre,  and  it  was  to  this  that  the  young  man 
owed  already  the  royal  grant  relative  to  his  change 
of  name.  Besides  Herrera  lived  a  very  retired  life 
after  the  traditional  fashion  of  priests  employed  on 
secret  missions.  He  performed  his  religious  duties 


70  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

at  Saint-Sulpice,  went  out  only  on  business  and 
then  at  night  in  a  carriage.  His  day  was  taken  up 
by  the  Spanish  siesta,  which  sleeps  away  the  hours 
between  the  two  meals,  the  time  when  Paris  is 
most  crowded  and  busy.  The  Spanish  cigar  played 
its  part  too  and  consumed  as  much  time  as  tobacco. 
Idleness  is  a  mask  as  well  as  gravity,  for  gravity 
itself  is  idleness.  Herrera  lived  on  the  second  story 
of  a  house  in  one  wing  while  Lucien  occupied  the 
other  wing.  These  apartments  were  separate  and 
at  the  same  time  united  by  a  large  reception  room, 
whose  antique  splendor  was  equally  suited  to  the 
grave  ecclesiastic  and  the  young  poet.  The  court- 
yard of  this  house  was  gloomy.  Tall  trees  shaded 
the  garden  with  their  thick  foliage.  Silence  and 
discretion  meet  in  dwellings  chosen  by  priests. 
Herrera's  lodging  can  be  described  in  two  words:  a 
cell.  Lucien's  suite,  resplendent  with  luxury  and 
furnished  with  refinements  of  comfort,  contained  all 
the  requisites  of  the  elegant  life  of  a  dandy,  poet 
and  author,  ambitious,  dissolute,  at  once  proud  and 
vain,  neglectful  in  the  extreme  yet  desirous  of  order; 
one  of  those  imperfect  geniuses,  who  have  some 
power  of  desiring  and  conceiving  (which  are  perhaps 
the  same  thing),  but  who  lack  the  power  of  doing. 
Of  themselves  Lucien  and  Herrera  formed  a  complete 
political  combination.  There,  no  doubt,  lay  the 
secret  of  this  alliance.  Old  men,  in  whom  the 
motive  of  life  has  changed  its  place  and  settled 
within  the  sphere  of  interest,  often  feel  the  want  of 
a  pretty  toy,  of  a  young  and  impassioned  actor  to 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  7! 

accomplish  their  ends.  Richelieu  found  too  late  a 
handsome,  fair,  mustachioed  face  to  toss  to  the 
women  whom  he  thought  fit  to  amuse.  Misunder- 
stood by  young  simpletons  he  was  obliged  to  banish 
his  master's  mother  and  to  overawe  the  queen;  for 
he  had  labored  to  ingratiate  himself  first  with  one 
and  then  with  the  other,  although  his  was  not  a 
nature  to  attract  the  love  of  queens.  Whatever 
road  he  take  across  an  ambitious  life,  a  man  must 
brush  against  a  woman  at  the  time  he  least  expects 
the  encounter.  However  powerful  a  government 
be,  it  needs  a  woman  to  play  against  a  woman,  just 
as  the  Dutch  cut  diamond  with  diamond.  Rome 
at  the  height  of  her  power  bowed  to  this  necessity. 
Remember  too,  how  differently  the  lives  of  Mazarin, 
the  Italian  cardinal,  and  Richelieu,  the  French 
cardinal,  became  supreme:  Richelieu  meets  with 
opposition  amongst  the  great  lords;  he  lays  the  axe 
to  the  root;  he  dies  at  the  apex  of  his  power,  worn 
out  by  this  duel  in  which  he  had  only  a  Capuchin 
for  a  second.  Mazarin  is  repulsed  by  the  united 
burghers  and  nobles  who,  armed  and  sometimes  vic- 
torious, make  royalty  itself  flee  before  them;  but  the 
servant  of  Anne  of  Austria  cuts  off  no  heads,  con- 
quers all  France,  and  moulds  Louis  XIV.,  who 
finished  the  work  of  Richelieu  by  strangling  the 
nobility  with  silken  cords  in  the  great  harem  of 
Versailles.  Madame  de  Pompadour  once  dead, 
Choiseul  is  lost!  Had  Herrera  discovered  these 
deep  maxims?  Had  he  done  justice  to  himself 
earlier  than  Richelieu  had  done?  Had  he  chosen  a 


72  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

Cinq-Mars,  and  a  faithful  Cinq-Mars,  in  Lucien?  No 
one  could  answer  these  questions  nor  measure  the 
ambition  of  this  Spaniard,  as  no  one  could  foresee 
what  should  be  his  end.  These  questions,  asked 
by  such  as  could  steal  a  glance  at  this  long-secret 
union,  sought  to  pierce  a  horrible  mystery  that 
Lucien  had  only  known  for  a  few  days.  Carlos 
was  ambitious  for  both:  this  is  what  his  conduct 
meant  to  persons  who  knew  him  and  who  believed, 
every  one,  that  Lucien  was  the  natural  son  of  the 
priest. 

Fifteen  months  after  his  appearance  at  the  Opera 
which  had  thrown  him  too  soon  into  a  society  where 
the  priest  had  no  wish  to  see  him  until  he  had 
finished  arming  him  against  the  world,  Lucien  had 
three  handsome  horses  in  his  stable,  a  coupe  for  the 
evening,  a  chaise  and  a  tilbury  for  the  morning. 
He  took  his  meals  at  restaurants.  Herrera's  ex- 
pectations were  fulfilled:  dissipation  had  engrossed 
his  pupil;  but  he  had  thought  it  necessary  to  leave 
an  outlet  for  the  mad  love  which  Lucien  felt  for 
Esther.  After  spending  some  forty  thousand  francs, 
every  adventure  brought  back  Lucien  more  com- 
pletely to  La  Torpille.  He  sought  her  stubbornly, 
and  as  he  failed  to  find  her,  she  became  for  him 
what  the  game  is  for  the  hunter.  Could  Herrera 
know  the  nature  of  a  poet's  love?  When  once  this 
sentiment  has  gained  a  foothold  in  the  head  of  one 
of  these  little  great  men,  as  surely  as  it  has  secured 
his  heart  and  pierced  his  senses,  this  poet  becomes 
as  far  above  humanity  by  the  strength  of  his  love 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  73 

as  he  is  by  the  power  of  his  fancy.  Indebted  to 
the  caprice  of  an  intellectual  birth  for  the  rare 
faculty  of  painting  nature  by  images  which  express 
both  sentiment  and  thought,  the  poet  gives  to  his 
love  the  wings  of  his  fancy.  He  feels  and  he 
paints;  he  acts  and  he  thinks;  he  multiplies  his 
feelings  by  his  thought;  he  triples  present  happiness 
by  hopes  for  the  future  and  recollections  of  the  past; 
he  intermingles  those  fine  delights  of  the  soul  which 
make  him  the  prince  of  artists.  The  passion  of  a 
poet  becomes  a  mighty  poem  wherein  often  the 
measure  of  man  is  surpassed.  Does  not  the  poet 
place  his  mistress  far  higher  than  the  region  where 
women  like  to  dwell?  Like  the  sublime  cavalier  of 
la  Mancha  he  transforms  a  workwoman  of  the 
fields  into  a  princess.  He  waves  for  himself  the 
wand  whose  touch  transforms  everything  by  magic, 
and  thus  he  increases  his  happiness  by  the  divine 
world  of  the  ideal.  And  this  love  is  a  model  of 
passion.  It  is  intemperate  in  all  things:  in  its  hopes, 
in  its  despair,  in  its  anger,  in  its  sadness,  in  its  joy; 
it  flies,  it  leaps,  it  climbs;  it  is  not  like  the  excite- 
ments of  ordinary  men;  it  is  to  common  love  what 
the  eternal  torrent  of  the  Alps  is  to  the  brooks  of  the 
plain.  These  splendid  geniuses  are  so  rarely  under- 
stood that  they  waste  themselves  in  false  hopes:  con- 
sume themselves  in  searching  for  their  ideal  mis- 
tresses. They  die  almost  always  like  beautiful  insects, 
that  are  carefully  decked  by  the  most  poetic  of  natures 
for  the  feasts  of  love,  and,  still  virgins,  are  trodden 
upon  by  the  foot  of  a  passer-by.  But  there  is  another 


74  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

danger,  when  they  meet  the  woman  who  appeals  to 
their  souls,  and  who  is  often  a  baker's  daughter,  they 
do  as  Raphael  did,  as  the  beautiful  insects  do,  they  die 
beside  the  Fornarina.  Lucien  was  one  of  these.  His 
poet's  nature,  of  need  extreme  in  all  things,  good  and 
evil  alike,  divined  the  angel  in  the  woman  rather  spot- 
ted by  corruption  than  corrupt.  He  saw  her  always 
white-winged,  pure,  mysterious,  as  though  she  had 
made  herself  for  him  knowing  that  he  wished  her  thus. 

Toward  the  end  of  the  month  of  May,  1825,  Lucien 
had  lost  all  his  vivacity.  He  stayed  at  home,  dined 
with  Herrera,  thought,  worked,  read  the  collection 
of  diplomatic  treaties,  sat  cross-legged  on  a  divan, 
and  smoked  three  or  four  hookahs  a  day.  His  groom 
was  more  busied  in  polishing  and  perfuming  the 
stems  of  this  beautiful  instrument  than  in  currying 
the  horses'  coats  and  in  decking  their  heads 
with  rosettes  for  a  drive  in  the  Bois.  On  the  day 
that  the  Spaniard  noted  Lucien's  pale  forehead,  and 
traced  the  germs  of  illness  in  the  frenzy  of  hidden 
love,  he  wished  to  penetrate  to  the  heart  of  this 
man  on  whom  he  had  built  his  life. 

One  lovely  evening  when  Lucien,  stretched  in 
an  armchair,  was  watching  mechanically  the  set- 
ting of  the  sun  behind  the  garden  trees,  and  was 
blowing  a  cloud  of  his  perfumed  smoke  in  equal  and 
prolonged  puffs,  as  thoughtful  smokers  do,  he  was 
awakened  from  his  revery  by  a  deep  sigh.  He 
turned  and  saw  the  priest  standing  near  him  with 
crossed  arms. 

"  Have  you  been  standing  there?"  asked  the  poet. 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  75 

"For  a  long  time,"  answered  the  priest,  "my 
thoughts  have  been  following  the  compass  of  yours." 

Lucien  understood. 

"  I  never  claimed  for  myself  an  iron  nature  such 
as  yours.  For  me  life  is  by  turns  a  heaven  and  a 
hell;  but  when  by  chance  it  is  neither  one  nor  the 
other,  it  wearies  me  and  I  grow  weary  of  myself." 

"How  can  a  man  be  weary  of  life  with  such 
splendid  hopes  before  him?" 

"  When  he  ceases  to  believe  in  these  hopes  or 
when  they  are  too  thickly  veiled." 

"No  nonsense,"  said  the  priest;  "it  is  much 
worthier  of  you  and  of  me  that  you  should  open 
your  heart  to  me.  There  lies  between  us  what 
there  ought  never  to  be — a  secret.  This  secret  has 
lasted  for  sixteen  months.  You  love  a  woman." 

"What  then?" 

"A  disreputable  woman,  named  La  Torpille." 

"Well?" 

"  My  son,  1  have  given  you  leave  to  take  a  mis- 
tress, but  a  woman  of  the  court,  young,  beautiful, 
influential,  a  countess  at  the  least.  I  picked  out 
Madame  d'Espard  for  you,  in  order  to  use  her,  with- 
out scruple,  as  a  tool;  for  she  would  never  have  per- 
verted your  heart,  she  would  have  left  you  free.  To 
love  a  prostitute  of  the  lowest  kind,  when  you  can- 
not, as  kings  can,  make  her  noble,  is  a  cardinal  sin." 

"Am  I  the  first  to  throw  ambition  to  the  winds 
and  rush  down  the  path  of  an  unbridled  love?" 

"Good,"  ejaculated  the  priest,  as  he  picked  up 
the  bocchinetto  of  the  hookah,  which  Lucien  had  let 


76  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

fall,  and  handed  it  to  him;  "  I  understand  the  epi- 
gram. Is  it  impossible  to  unite  ambition  and  love? 
Son,  you  have  in  old  Herrera  a  mother  whose  devo- 
tion is  perfect." 

"I  know  it,"  said  Lucien,  taking  his  hand  and 
shaking  it. 

"  You  wished  for  the  toys  of  riches.  You  have 
them.  You  wish  to  shine;  1  guide  you  in  the  path 
of  success,  I  kiss  unclean  hands  that  you  may  rise, 
and  you  rise.  A  little  more  time  and  you  shall  lack 
nothing  that  men  and  women  delight  in.  Your  caprices 
have  made  you  effeminate;  you  are  manly  at  heart. 
1  know  you  thoroughly  and  I  pardon  everything. 
You  have  only  to  speak,  to  satisfy  your  passions  of 
a  day.  I  have  enriched  your  life,  by  giving  it  that 
which  makes  it  worshiped  by  the  crowd,  the  seal 
of  government  and  power.  You  shall  be  as  great 
as  you  are  little;  but  we  must  not  break  the  die  with 
which  we  stamp  our  coin.  I  grant  you  everything 
except  the  errors  that  would  ruin  your  future.  When 
I  throw  open  for  you  the  doors  of  the  Faubourg  Saint- 
Germain,  1  forbid  you  to  wallow  in  the  gutters.  Lu- 
cien, on  your  behalf,  I  will  be  like  a  bar  of  iron;  I 
will  suffer  all  things  for  you,  for  your  sake.  It  is 
thus,  then,  that  I  have  transformed  your  clumsiness  in 
the  game  of  life  into  the  craft  of  a  cunning  player." 

Lucien  tossed  his  head  back  with  an  angry  jerk. 

"  !  have  carried  away  La  Torpillel" 

"  You?"  shrieked  Lucien. 

In  a  burst  of  wild  rage  the  poet  leaped  to  his 
feet,  threw  the  golden  jeweled  bocchinetto  into  the 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  77 

priest's  face,  and  hurled  him,  athlete  as  he  was,  to  the 
ground. 

"  I,"  said  the  Spaniard,  as  he  rose,  still  keeping 
his  awful  gravity.  The  black  wig  had  fallen.  A 
skull  smooth  as  a  death's-head  gave  the  man  his 
true  expression.  It  was  dreadful.  Lucien  sat  on 
his  divan,  his  arms  hanging  loosely  at  his  sides. 
Overwhelmed,  he  gazed  stupidly  at  the  priest. 

"  I  have  carried  her  away,"  repeated  the  eccle- 
siastic. 

"  What  have  you  done  with  her?  You  took  her 
off  on  the  day  after  the  masked  ball." 

"  Yes.  On  the  day  after  I  had  seen  a  human  being 
who  belonged  to  you  insulted  by  fools  whom  I  would 
not  deign  to  kick." 

"  Fools!"  cried  Lucien,  interrupting  him.  "  Call 
them  monsters  beside  whom  the  victims  of  the 
guillotine  are  angels.  Do  you  know  what  poor 
Torpille  has  done  for  three  among  them?  One  of 
them  had  been  her  lover  for  two  months.  She  was 
poor  and  picked  up  her  crusts  from  the  gutter.  He 
hadn't  a  cent.  Like  me,  when  first  you  found  me, 
he  was  very  close  to  the  river.  The  fellow  used  to 
get  up  at  night,  and  go  to  the  cupboard  where  were 
the  remnants  of  the  girl's  dinner,  and  eat  them. 
Eventually  she  discovered  this.  She  understood  his 
sense  of  shame;  took  care  to  leave  plenty  of  rem- 
nants and  was  very  happy.  She  told  it  only  to  me, 
in  her  cab,  coming  back  from  the  Opera.  The  sec- 
ond had  stolen;  but  before  his  theft  was  discovered 
she  lent  him  the  money,  thus  he  was  enabled  to 


78  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

refund  it,  but  he  never  remembered  to  repay  the 
poor  child.  As  for  the  third,  she  made  his  fortune 
in  playing  a  comedy  that  displayed  all  the  genius  of 
Figaro:  she  passed  for  his  wife  and  became  the  mis- 
tress of  an  influential  man  who  thought  her  a  most 
ingenuous  and  respectable  woman.  To  one  life,  to 
another  honor,  to  the  last  fortune,  which  to-day  is 
worth  them  all.  And  this  is  how  she  has  been  re- 
warded by  them!" 

"Do  you  wish  them  to  die?"  said  Herrera,  who 
had  a  tear  in  his  eye. 

"  I  know  you  now.     I  understand  you." 

"  No,  learn  the  whole  truth,  mad  poet,"  said  the 
priest.  "  La  Torpille  is  no  more." 

Lucien  sprang  so  violently  at  Herrara's  neck  that 
another  man  would  have  lost  his  balance;  but  the 
Spaniard's  arm  held  the  poet  firm. 

"  L,isten,"  said  he  coldly,  "  I  have  made  of  her  a 
woman,  chaste,  pure,  well  brought  up,  religious, 
everything  that  a  woman  should  be.  She  is  being 
taught.  She  can,  she  must  become,  beneath  the 
mastery  of  your  love,  a  Ninon,  a  Marion  Delorme, 
or  a  DuBarry,  as  that  journalist  said  at  the  opera. 
You  shall  acknowledge  her  as  your  mistress,  or  if 
you  follow  wiser  counsel  you  shall  remain  hidden 
behind  a  curtain  of  your  own  creation.  Either 
course  will  bring  you  profit  and  pride,  pleasure  and 
advancement;  but  if  you  are  as  great  a  statesman  as 
you  are  a  poet,  Esther  will  never  be  more  than  your 
amusement.  In  time,  perhaps,  she  may  be  of 
great  use  to  us,  for  she's  worth  her  weight  in  gold. 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  79 

Drink,  but  do  not  drink  too  deep.  If  I  had  not 
curbed  your  passions,  where  would  you  be  to-day? 
You  would  have  sunk  with  La  Torpille  into  the  slough 
of  misery,  whence  I  dragged  you. — Take  this,  read 
it,"  said  Herrera,  with  as  much  directness  as  Talma 
in  "Manlius,"  whom  he  had  never  seen. 

A  paper  fell  into  the  poet's  lap  and  drew  him  from 
the  utter  amazement  into  which  the  priest's  terrible 
answer  had  plunged  him.  He  took  it  and  read  the 
first  letter  written  by  Mademoiselle  Esther: 

"  To  Father  Carlos  Herrera: 

"  My  dear  guardian,  will  you  not  think  that  my 
gratitude  surpasses  my  love  when  you  see  that  I 
make  use  of  the  faculty  of  expressing  my  thoughts 
for  the  first  time  in  giving  thanks  to  you  instead  of 
consecrating  it  to  painting  a  love  that  Lucien  has 
perhaps  forgotten.  To  you  who  are  a  holy  man  I 
can  tell  what  I  could  not  confess  to  him  who  still 
wishes  to  attach  my  happiness  to  this  earth.  Yes- 
terday's ceremony  has  poured  its  wealth  of  grace 
upon  me  and  I  place  my  destiny  in  your  hands.  If 
1  be  called  upon  to  die  far  from  my  beloved,  I  shall 
die  purified,  like  the  Magdalen,  and  my  soul  shall 
become,  for  his  sake,  the  rival  of  his  guardian  angel. 
Shall  1  ever  forget  yesterday's  fe'te?  How  can  I 
wish  to  step  down  from  the  glorious  throne  where  I 
have  climbed?  Yesterday  I  washed  away  all  my 
sins  in  the  waters  of  baptism,  and  I  received  the 
sacred  body  of  our  Saviour.  I  have  become  one  of 
His  temples.  At  that  moment  I  heard  the  songs  of 


80  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

angels;  I  was  more  than  a  woman;  I  was  born  to  a 
life  of  light,  attired  like  a  virgin  for  a  heavenly 
bridegroom,  amidst  an  intoxicating  cloud  of  incense 
and  prayers,  while  the  earth  rejoiced  and  the  world 
was  glad.  When  I  felt  myself  worthy  of  Lucien, 
though  I  had  never  dared  hope  it  before,  I  cast 
away  every  impure  love  and  I  will  not  walk  in  other 
paths  than  those  of  virtue.  If  my  body  is  more 
feeble  than  my  soul,  let  it  perish.  Be  the  ruler  of 
my  destiny,  and,  if  I  die,  tell  Lucien  that  1  died  for 
him  as  1  was  born  unto  God. 

"Sunday  evening." 

Lucien,  with  tears  in  his  eyes,  looked  toward  the 
priest. 

"You  know  the  lodgings  of  big  Caroline  Belle- 
feuille  in  the  Rue  Taitbout,"  said  the  Spaniard. 
"This  girl,  who  was  left  uncared  for  by  the  police 
magistrate,  was  in  frightful  want;  she  was  going 
to  be  arrested.  I  bought  her  rooms  outright  and  she 
went  out  with  her  effects.  Esther,  the'  angel  who 
wished  to  climb  to  heaven,  has  come  down  and  is 
awaiting  you  there." 

Just  then  Lucien  heard  his  horses  prancing  in  the 
courtyard  below.  He  had  no  strength  to  show  his  ad- 
miration for  devotion  that  he  alone  could  appreciate. 
He  threw  himself  into  the  arms  of  the  man  whom 
he  had  outraged,  and  made  amends  by  a  single  look 
in  which  he  silently  expressed  his  gratitude;  then 
he  leapt  down  the  staircase,  shouted  Esther's  ad- 
dress to  his  "tiger,"  and  the  horses  dashed  away  as 
if  their  legs  were  animated  by  their  master's  passion. 


On  the  following  day,  a  man,  who  by  his  dress 
might  have  been  a  disguised  gendarme,  was  pacing 
the  street  before  a  house  in  the  Rue  Taitbout, 
as  though  he  were  expecting  somebody  to  come 
out.  His  gait  betokened  anxiety.  In  Paris  it  is 
not  uncommon  to  meet  with  such  excited  persons; 
real  gendarmes  watching  for  some  refractory  sol- 
dier of  the  National  Guard;  bailiffs  taking  measures 
for  an  arrest;  creditors  contemplating  some  insult 
on  the  debtor  who  has  securely  locked  his  door; 
jealous  lovers;  suspicious  husbands;  friends  busied 
in  a  friend's  business;  but  it  is  very  rare  to  come 
upon  a  face  darkened  by  the  stern  and  cruel  thoughts 
which  animated  the  gloomy  features  of  a  powerfully 
built  man  as  he  walked  to  and  fro  beneath  Made- 
moiselle Esther's  windows  with  the  blind  haste  of  a 
caged  bear.  At  twelve  o'clock  a  window  opened 
and  allowed  a  chambermaid's  hand  to  push  back  the 
carefully  padded  shutters.  A  few  moments  later, 
Esther,  clad  in  her  dressing-gown,  and  leaning  upon 
Lucien's  arm,  came  to  breathe  the  air.  An  observer 
would  have  taken  them  for  the  original  of  a  pretty 
English  vignette..  Suddenly  Esther  caught  sight  of 
the  basilisk  eyes  of  the  Spanish  priest.  The  poor 
girl  gave  a  startled  cry  as  though  she  had  been 
struck  by  a  bullet. 

6  (81) 


82  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

"There's  the  terrible  priest,"  she  whispered, 
pointing  him  out  to  Lucien. 

"He!"  said  Lucien  with  a  smile,  "He's  no  more 
priest  than  you." 

"What  is  he  then?"  she  asked  fearfully. 

"Oh,  he's  an  old  lascar,  who  only  believes  in  the 
devil,"  replied  Lucien. 

Had  Esther  been  less  absolutely  devoted,  this 
light  cast  upon  the  secrets  of  the  false  priest  might 
have  ruined  Lucien  forever.  As  they  walked  from 
the  bedroom  to  the  dining-room  where  their  break- 
fast had  just  been  served,  the  lovers  met  Carlos 
Herrera. 

"What  have  you  to  do  here?"  demanded  Lucien 
shortly.  "To  bless  you,"  answered  the  undaunted 
priest  as  he  stopped  the  couple  and  obliged  them  to 
halt  in  the  little  parlor  of  the  suite.  "Listen,  my 
dears.  Have  a  good  time,  be  happy.  All  that 
is  very  well.  Happiness  at  any  price  is  my  motto. 
But  you,"  said  he  to  Esther,  "you  whom  I  raised 
from  the  mire  and  whom  I  cleansed  body  and  soul, 
you  can  have  no  claim  to  block  Lucien's  path.  As 
for  you,  my  boy,"  said  he  turning  to  Lucien  after  a 
pause,  "you  are  no  longer  poet  enough  to  run  a 
steeplechase  after  a  new  Coralie.  It  is  prose  that 
we  are  writing.  What  can  become  of  Esther's  lover? 
Nothing.  Perhaps  Esther  can  become  Madame  de 
Rubempre?  No, — well  the  world,  my  love,"  said 
he  laying  his  hand  on  Esther's  fingers  which  quivered 
as  though  a  snake  were  coiled  about  them,  "the 
world  must  not  know  that  you  exist,  the  world, 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  83 

above  all  things,  must  never  know  that  a  Made- 
moiselle Esther  loves  Lucien  and  that  Lucien  is 
in  love  with  her.  This  apartment  shall  be  your 
prison,  my  girl.  If  you  wish  to  go  out  and  if 
your  health  require  it,  you  must  walk  during  the 
night  at  hours  when  you  cannot  be  seen;  for  your 
beauty,  your  youth  and  the  distinction  you  have 
gained  at  the  convent,  would  be  too  quickly  noticed  in 
Paris.  The  day  that  the  world  shall  know,"  he  went 
on  with  terrible  earnestness  and  a  still  more  terrible 
look,  "  that  Lucien  is  your  lover  or  that  you  are  his 
mistress,  that  day  shall  be  the  beginning  of  your  end. 
Though  Lucien  is  a  younger  son,  permission  has  been 
obtained  for  him  to  carry  the  arms  of  his  mother's 
line.  But  this  is  not  all.  The  title  of  marquis  has 
not  been  granted  him,  and  to  secure  this,  he  must 
marry  the  daughter  of  some  noble  family  in  whose 
favor  the  King  will  confer  this  honor  upon  him.  This 
marriage  will  place  Lucien  in  the  court  world.  This 
boy  whom  I  have  made  a  man,  shall  first  become 
secretary  of  an  embassy;  later  he  shall  become  min- 
ister in  some  German  court  and  aided  by  God  or  by 
me,  whichever  best  serves  his  turn,  he  shall  sit 
some  day  on  the  benches  of  the  peerage — " 

"  Or  on  the  benches  of — "  cried  Lucien,  inter- 
rupting the  priest. 

"  Silence,"  cried  Carlos,  covering  Lucien's  mouth 
with  his  large  hand.  "  Such  a  secret  to  a  woman  ! 
— "  whispered  he  in  his  ear. 

"Esther,  a" woman?"  exclaimed  the  author  of 
"  Marguerites." 


84  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

"More  sonnets  and  nonsense,"  said  the  priest. 
"All  angels  become  women  again  sooner  or  later. 
But  there  are  times  when  a  woman  is  at  once  child 
and  monkey:  two  creatures  who  kill  us  for  a  joke. 
Esther,  my  jewel,"  said  he  to  the  frightened  girl, 
"  for  your  waiting  maid,  I  have  found  a  woman  as 
much  bound  to  me  as  if  she  were  my  daughter. 
For  cook,  you  shall  have  a  mulatto  woman  who  will 
give  your  house  an  aristocratic  air.  With  Europe 
and  Asia,  you  can  live  here,  everything  included,  on 
a  thousand  francs  a  month  and  live  like  a  queen — 
of  the  stage.  Europe  has  been  seamstress,  dress- 
maker and  chorus  girl.  Asia  has  cooked  for  a  glut- 
tonous milord.  These  two  creatures  shall  serve 
you  like  fairies." 

As  she  saw  how  small  and  young  Lucien  looked 
beside  this  being  who  was  capable  of  falsehood  or 
sacrilege,  or  worse,  this  woman,  sanctified  as  she  was 
by  love,  felt  cold  terror  in  her  heart.  Without  a  word 
she  drew  Lucien  aside  into  the  next  room.  Then 
she  said  to  him: 

"Is  it  the  devil?" 

"Much  worse, — forme!"  answered  he  quickly. 
"  But,  if  you  love  me,  try  to  imitate  his  devotion 
and  obey  him  on  pain  of  death — " 

"  Of  death?"  said  she,  still  more  alarmed.  "  Of 
death,"  repeated  Lucien.  "  Ah,  dear  heart,  no  death 
could  compare  with  the  fate  which  would  be  mine 
if—" 

Esther  turned  pale  and  faint  as  she  heard  these 
words. 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  85 

"Well,"  cried  the  priestly  forger  "haven't  you 
finished  plucking  the  leaves  of  your  Margue- 
rites?" 

Esther  and  Lucien  reappeared,  and  the  poor  girl 
who  dared  not  raise  her  eyes  to  the  mysterious 
priest,  answered:  "  You  shall  be  obeyed,  as  God  is^ 
obeyed,  sir."  "  Good!"  he  answered.  "  For  some 
time  you  can  be  very  happy  and — since  you  have 
to  provide  toilets  only  for  the  night  and  the  morning, 
you  can  be  very  economical." 

The  lovers  turned  toward  the  dining-room  but 
Lucien's  protector  beckoned  the  charming  couple  to 
stop.  They  obeyed  him. 

"  I  have  just  spoken  to  you  of  your  servants,  my 
child,"  said  he  to  Esther.  "I  ought  to  introduce 
them." 

The  Spaniard  rang  twice,  and  the  two  women 
whom  he  called  Europe  and  Asia  appeared.  It  was 
easy  to  see  the  cause  of  their  cognomens. 

Asia  who  seemed  to  be  a  native  of  the  island  of 
Java,  offered  to  the  astonished  beholder  the  copper- 
colored  countenance  peculiar  to  the  Malays,  flat  as 
a  board.  The  nose  looked  as  if  it  had  been  knocked 
in  by  a  violent  blow,  and  the  strange  position  of  the 
maxillary  bones  gave  the  lower  portion  of  her  face  a 
resemblance  to  that  of  a  large  monkey.  The  fore- 
head, although  low,  did  not  lack  a  certain  look  of 
intelligence  produced  by  habitual  cunning.  The 
two  small  shining  eyes  were  calm  as  those  of  a 
tiger's,  but  they  never  looked  you  in  the  face.  Asia 
seemed  afraid  of  frightening  those  about  her.  Her 


86  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

pale  blue  lips  were  slightly  parted,  showing  irregular 
teeth  of  dazzling  whiteness.  The  dominant  expression 
of  her  animal  physiognomy  was  cowardice.  Her 
hair  sleek  and  oily,  like  the  skin  of  her  face,  rose  in 
two  black  bands  on  either  side  of  a  richly  colored  silk 
handkerchief.  Her  ears,  which  were  extraordinarily 
pretty,  were  ornamented  with  two  large  black  pearls. 
Small,  short,  thick-set,  she  looked  like  one  of  those 
preposterous  creations  that  the  Chinese  allow  on 
their  screens — or  rather,  like  those  Hindoo  idols  of  a 
scarcely  believable  type  which  have  been  discovered 
by  travelers.  Esther  shuddered  as  she  saw  this 
monster  stand  before  her  dressed  in  a  stuff  gown 
and  white  apron. 

"  Asia,"  said  the  Spaniard,  toward  whom  this  wo- 
man raised  her  head  with  a  motion  like  that  of  a  dog 
as  he  watches  his  master,  "this  is  your  mistress." 

He  pointed  toward  Esther  as  she  stood  there  in 
her  wrapper.  Asia  looked  at  the  young  sylph  with 
a  half-melancholy  expression,  but  simultaneously  a 
stifled  flame  from  beneath  her  short  quivering  lashes 
shot  like  a  spark  of  fire  toward  Lucien  who,  with  his 
gorgeous  dressing-gown  thrown  open,  his  shirt  of 
fine  linen,  his  red  trousers  and  his  loose  fair  curls 
escaping  from  beneath  a  Turkish  fez,  looked  like  a 
young  god.  The  genius  of  Italy  can  invent  the 
story  of  Othello;  the  genius  of  England  can  adapt  it 
to  the  stage;  but  nature  alone  has  the  power  of 
being  more  splendid  and  more  perfect  than  England 
and  Italy  in  the  expression  of  jealousy.  Esther  saw 
the  look,  and  seizing  the  Spaniard's  arm  dug  her  nails 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  87 

into  it  like  a  cat  clinging  to  the  edge  of  a  precipice, 
the  depth  of  which  it  cannot  see.  The  Spaniard 
spoke  three  or  four  words  in  an  unknown  tongue  to 
the  strange  Asiatic  monster  who  instantly  crouched 
before  Esther's  feet  and  kissed  them. 

"It  is  not,"  said  the  Spaniard  to  Esther,  "a 
woman  but  a  man,  whose  gift  for  cooking  would 
make  Care'me  madly  jealous.  Asia  can  accomplish 
anything  in  a  kitchen.  She  will  prepare  a  simple 
dish  of  beans  that  will  make  you  doubt  whether  the 
angels  have  not  intermingled  herbs  from  heaven. 
Every  morning  she  will  go  to  market,  and  will  fight 
like  the  devil  she  is,  in  order  to  get  everything  at  the 
lowest  price;  she  will  weary  the  curious  with  her 
discretion.  As  you  will  be  supposed  to  have  been 
in  the  Indies,  Asia  will  do  much  to  make  the  story 
credible,  for  she  is  one  of  those  Parisian  women 
who  can  appear  to  belong  to  any  country  they  wish. 
But  my  advice  is  that  you  do  not  pass  for  a  for- 
eigner. Europe,  what  say  you?" 

Europe  formed  an  absolute  contrast  to  Asia,  for 
she  was  as  neat  a  soubrette  as  ever  Monrose  could 
have  wished  for  a  rival  on  the  boards.  Slender,  and 
giddy-looking,  with  little  ferret  features  and  turned-up 
nose,  Europe  offered  to  view  a  face  worn  by  the  dis- 
sipations of  Paris,  the  pale  face  of  a  girl  fed  on  raw 
potatoes,  at  once  flaccid  and  firm,  pliant  and  obsti- 
nate. With  one  small  foot  advanced  and  her  hands 
in  the  pockets  of  her  apron,  her  animation  was  so 
great  that  she  never  ceased  to  fidget,  although  she 
did  not  move  from  her  place.  Grisette  and  ballet- 


88  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

dancer  as  well,  she  had  worked  at  many  trades  in 
spite  of  her  youth.  Perverse  as  all  the  women  of 
a  penitentiary  put  together,  she  might  have  robbed 
her  parents  and  been  acquainted  with  the  benches 
of  the  police  court.  Asia  was  frightful  to  look  upon, 
but  she  could  be  understood  in  a  moment;  she  was 
a  lineal  descendant  of  Locuste;  whereas  Europe  in- 
spired an  uneasiness  which  could  not  but  increase 
in  proportion  as  she  was  employed.  Her  depravity 
seemed  boundless.  She  could  sow  discord  in  heaven, 
as  they  say. 

' '  Perhaps  the  lady  comes  from  Valencien nes, ' '  said 
Europe,  in  a  small  shrill  voice.  "  I  do,  myself,  sir," 
she  added  in  an  affected  tone,  turning  to  Lucien. 
"Will  you  tell  me  the  name  by  which  I  must  know 
Madame?" 

"  Madame  von  Bogseck,"  answered  the  Spaniard, 
giving  this  assumed  name  without  hesitation.  "She 
is  a  Jewess,  a  native  of  Holland,  a  merchant's 
widow,  and  sick  with  some  liver  trouble  that  she  has 
brought  back  with  her  from  Java.  Not  a  large  for- 
tune— in  order  not  to  arouse  curiosity." 

"What  income?  Six  thousand  francs,  and  shall 
we  complain  of  her  meanness?"  asked  Europe. 

"That's  it,"  said  the  Spaniard,  nodding,  "you 
crafty  devils!"  he  added  in  a  terrible  voice  as  he 
noticed  Europe  and  Asia  exchange  glances  that  he 
did  not  like.  "  You  know  my  orders?  You  serve  a 
queen.  You  owe  her  the  respect  that  a  queen  is 
entitled  to.  You  will  nurse  her  as  you  would  nurse 
revenge.  You  must  be  as  devoted  to  her  as  to  me. 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  89 

Not  the  janitor,  nor  the  neighbors,  nor  the  lodgers, 
nobody  in  the  world  must  know  what  goes  on  here. 
It  is  your  duty  to  divert  any  curiosity  that  may  be 
excited.  And  this  lady,"  continued  he,  laying  his 
large  hairy  hand  upon  Esther's  arm,  "must  not 
commit  the  slightest  imprudence.  If  need  be  you 
must  prevent  her,  but — always  respectfully.  Eu- 
rope, it  will  be  your  task  to  make  arrangements 
for  Madame  von  Bogseck's  dresses,  and  you  will  do 
the  sewing  yourself  for  economy's  sake.  Above  all, 
no  outsider,  however  insignificant,  must  set  foot  in 
the  apartment.  You  two  must  be  able  to  do  every- 
thing. My  love,"  said  he  to  Esther,  "when  you 
wish  to  drive  in  the  evening,  you  will  tell  Europe. 
She  knows  where  to  find  your  servants,  for  you  are 
to  have  a  groom— of  my  choice,  like  these  two 
slaves." 

Esther  and  Lucien  could  not  answer  a  word.  They 
listened  to  the  Spaniard  and  gazed  at  the  two  price- 
less servants  to  whom  he  gave  his  orders.  To  what 
secret  did  he  owe  the  obsequious  devotion  written 
upon  those  two  faces,  one  so  wickedly  rebellious, 
the  other  so  utterly  cruel?  The  priest  divined  the 
thoughts  of  Esther  and  Lucien  as  they  stood  stupe- 
fied as  Paul  and  Virginia  would  have  stood  at  the 
sight  of  two  horrible  serpents,  and  whispered  to 
them  in  his  softest  voice: 

"  You  can  count  on  them  as  you  can  on  me. 
Keep  no  secret  from  them.  That  will  please  them — 
go  to  your  work,  little  Asia,"  said  he  to  the  cook — 
"  and  you,  my  pet,  set  one  more  place  at  the  table," 


90  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

added  he  to  Europe.  "  The  least  that  these  children 
can  do  is  to  invite  their  papa  to  breakfast." 

When  the  two  women  had  closed  the  door  behind 
them  and  the  Spaniard  could  hear  Europe  running  to 
and  fro,  he  said  to  Lucien  and  the  girl,  as  he  opened 
his  great  hand. 

"I  have  them." 

Word  and  gesture  were  alike  terrible. 

"Where  did  you  find  them?"  cried  Lucien. 
"  The  deuce!"  he  answered,  "  I  did  not  look  for  them 
at  the  foot  of  thrones!  Europe  has  been  drawn  from 
the  mire  and  is  afraid  of  falling  into  it  again.  When 
they  do  not  satisfy  you,  threaten  them  with  '  the 
priest '  and  you  shall  see  them  shake  like  mice  before 
a  cat.  I  am  a  tamer  of  wild  beasts,"  he  added  smiling. 

"  I  think  you  are  a  demon!"  cried  Esther  prettily, 
pressing  closer  to  Lucien. 

"  My  daughter,  I  have  tried  to  give  you  to 
Heaven;  but  the  church  always  finds  a  repentant 
woman  a  fiction  and  if  there  were  one  she  would  turn 
courtesan  again  in  Paradise.  You  have  succeeded  in 
making  yourself  forgotten  and  in  becoming  out- 
wardly a  respectable  woman;  for  at  the  convent 
you  have  learned  what  you  never  could  have  dis- 
covered in  the  infamous  world  in  which  you  lived. 
You  owe  me  nothing,"  said  he  as  he  saw  a  lovely 
look  of  gratitude  come  over  Esther's  face.  "  I  did 
everything  for  his  sake,  "he  added  pointing  at  Lucien: 
"  You  are  a  courtesan,  you  will  live  a  courtesan,  and 
will  die  a  courtesan.  In  spite  of  all  the  attractive 
theories  of  trainers,  here  on  earth,  an  animal  remains 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  91 

what  it  is.  The  phrenologist  is  right,  you  have  the 
bump  of  love." 

The  Spaniard  was  evidently  a  fatalist,  as  Napo- 
leon, Mohammed  and  many  great  statesmen  have 
been  fatalists.  It  is  a  strange  fact  that  almost  a'l 
men  of  action  incline  toward  fatalism,  and  most 
thinkers  toward  Providence. 

"I  don't  know  what  I  am,"  answered  Esther 
with  heavenly  sweetness;  "but  I  love  Lucien  and 
shall  love  him  till  I  die." 

"  Come  to  breakfast,"  said  the  Spaniard  shortly, 
"and  pray  God  that  Lucien  does  not  marry  soon, 
for  if  he  does,  you  will  never  see  him  again." 

"  His  marriage  would  be  my  death,"  she  said. 

She  allowed  the  counterfeit  priest  to  pass  in  first, 
in  order  that  she  might  raise  her  lips  unseen  to 
Lucien's  ear. 

"  Is  it  your  will,"  said  she,  "that  I  remain  under 
the  power  of  this  man  who  guards  me  with  these 
two  hyenas?" 

Lucien  inclined  his  head.  The  poor  girl  hid  her 
misgivings  and  tried  to  seem  happy,  but  she  felt 
terribly  ill-at-ease.  More  than  a  year  of  constant 
and  devoted  care  was  needed  to  accustom  her  to 
these  two  frightful  creatures  that  Carlos  Herrera 
named  the  "two  watch  dogs." 


Lucien's  conduct,  since  his  return  to  Paris,  was 
marked  by  an  impenetrable  reserve  which  was  well 
calculated  to  arouse  and  did  arouse  the  jealousy  of 
all  his  old  friends,  upon  whom  he  took  no  revenge 
except  by  exciting  their  envy  by  his  success,  his 
irreproachable  appearance  and  his  manner  of  holding 
them  at  a  distance.  This  poet,  who  had  been  so 
talkative  and  familiar,  became  cold  and  circum- 
spect. De  Marsay,  the  mirror  of  the  Parisian  youth, 
affected  no  more  punctilio  in  speech  or  manner  than 
Lucien.  As  to  wit,  the  journalist  had  long  ago  given 
ample  proof  of  that.  De  Marsay,  to  whom  many 
people  were  pleased  to  oppose  Lucien,  giving  the 
preference  to  the  poet,  had  the  littleness  to  be  vexed. 
Lucien,  who  was  in  high  favor  with  men  who  stood 
behind  the  seats  of  power,  gave  up  all  thoughts  of 
literary  glory  so  entirely  that  he  was  indifferent  to 
the  success  of  his  romance,  published  under  its  true 
title,  "The  Archer  of  Charles  IX.," and  to  the  burst 
of  applause  which  greeted  his  book  of  sonnets  en- 
titled "  Marguerites,"  that  was  sold  by  Dauriat  in  a 
single  week. 

"  It  is  a  posthumous  success,"  he  answered  laugh- 
ingly to  Mademoiselle  des  Touches,  who  compli- 
mented him  upon  it. 

The  terrible  Spaniard  held  his  creature  with  an 
(93) 


94  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

iron  grasp  in  the  path  toward  the  goal  where  trumpet 
blasts  and  spoils  of  victory  await  the  patient  poli- 
tician. Lucien  had  taken  Beaudenord's  bachelor 
apartment  on  the  Quai  Malaquais,  in  order  to  be 
near  the  Rue  Taitbout.  His  adviser  was  lodged  in 
three  rooms  on  the  fourth  story  of  the  same  house. 
Lucien  had  now  but  a  single  horse  for  riding  and 
driving,  one  servant  and  a  groom.  When  he  did  not 
dine  out,  he  dined  with  Esther.  Carlos  Herrera 
watched  the  household  on  the  Quai  Malaquais  so 
carefully  that  Lucien  did  not  spend  in  all  ten  thou- 
sand francs  a  year.  Ten  thousand  francs  supplied 
Esther's  wants,  thanks  to  the  constant,  inexpli- 
cable devotion  of  Europe  and  Asia.  Lucien  em- 
ployed the  greatest  precautions  in  going  to  and  from 
the  Rue  Taitbout.  He  never  went  there,  unless  in 
a  cab  with  drawn  curtains,  and  always  made  the 
cabman  drive  into  the  courtyard.  His  passion  for 
Esther,  and  the  existence  of  the  household  in  the  Rue 
Taitbout,  absolutely  secret  from  the  world,  harmed 
none  of  his  prospects  or  connections.  Not  a  word 
escaped  him  on  this  delicate  subject.  His  mistakes 
in  a  similar  affair  with  Coralie  at  the  time  of  his  first 
sojourn  in  Paris,  had  taught  him  his  lesson.  Besides, 
his  life  wore  the  air  of  respectable  regularity  beneath 
which  mysteries  are  so  often  hidden.  People  saw 
him  abroad  every  evening  until  one  hour  after  mid- 
night; they  found  him  at  home  every  morning  from 
ten  until  an  hour  after  noon.  Then  he  went  to  the 
Boisde  Boulogne  and  made  calls  until  five  o'clock. 
He  was  seldom  afoot  and  thus  avoided  meeting  his 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  95 

old  acquaintances.  Whenever  some  newspaper  man 
or  one  of  his  former  comrades  bowed  to  him,  he  re- 
turned the  courtesy  by  an  inclination  of  the  head, 
polite  enough  to  avoid  giving  offence,  yet  betraying 
a  deep  disdain  that  was  death  to  French  familiarity. 
Thus  he  quickly  disembarrassed  himself  of  any 
acquaintance  he  did  not  wish  to  prolong.  A  long 
cherished  hatred  prevented  him  from  going  to  see 
Madame  d'Espard,  who  had  often  asked  him  to  her 
house.  If  he  met  her  at  the  Duchess  of  Mau- 
frigneuse's,  at  Mademoiselle  des  Touches',  at  the 
Countess  de  Montcornet's  or  elsewhere,  he  treated 
her  with  the  most  exquisite  politeness.  The 
hatred  that  Madame  d'Espard  warmly  reciprocated 
obliged  Lucien  to  be  prudent,  and  we  shall  see  how 
he  had  roused  it  by  allowing  himself  the  pleasure 
of  revenge,  which  cost  him  a  severe  admonition 
from  Carlos. 

"You  are  not  strong  enough  yet  to  revenge  your- 
self on  anybody  whomsoever,"  the  Spaniard  had 
said  to  him.  "When  a  man  is  journeying  beneath 
a  hot  sun,  he  does  not  stop  to  pluck  the  prettiest 
flower  that  grows." 

Lucien 's  prospects  were  so  bright,  his  real  superi- 
ority so  strongly  marked  that  young  men,  who  felt 
their  fortunes  dimmed  or  eclipsed  by  his  return  to 
Paris  arid  his  extraordinary  good  luck,  were  all  de- 
lighted to  pay  him  an  ill  turn.  Lucien,  who  knew 
that  he  had  many  enemies,  was  well  aware  of  the 
unfavorable  temper  of  his  friends,  and  Herrera 
showed  admirable  caution  in  constant  warnings  to 


96  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

his  adopted  son  against  the  treachery  of  the  world 
and  the  fatal  imprudence  of  youth.  Every  evening 
Lucien  was  questioned  by  the  priest  and  told  him 
the  most  minute  details  of  the  day.  Thanks  to  the 
counsel  of  his  mentor  he  eluded  the  most  inquisr 
torial  curiosity  that  exists — the  curiosity  of  society. 
Protected  by  a  gravity  that  was  wholly  English,  and 
hedged  in  by  diplomatic  caution,  he  gave  to  no  one 
either  the  right  or  the  opportunity  to  meddle  in  his 
affairs.  His  handsome  young  face  became  as  im- 
passive in  society  as  the  face  of  a  princess  at  a 
public  ceremony. 

Toward  the  middle  of  the  year  1829  everybody 
talked  of  his  approaching  marriage  with  the  eldest 
daughter  of  the  Duchesse  de  Grandlieu,  who  had 
no  less  than  four  girls  to  provide  with  husbands. 
Nobody  doubted  that  in  case  the  match  took  place, 
the  King  would  grant  Lucien  the  title  of  Marquis. 
This  marriage  was  to  decide  Lucien's  political  career, 
for  he  would  probably  be  named  minister  at  some 
German  court.  For  three  years  Lucien's  life  had 
been  unswervingly  prudent,  and  it  was  concerning 
him  that  de  Marsay  had  made  the  singular  remark, 
"  That  fellow  must  have  some  strong  power  behind 
him." 

Thus  Lucien  was  almost  famous.  His  devotion 
to  Esther  had  been  of  great  service  to  him  in 
playing  his  part  as  a  man  of  sober  life.  A  habit  of 
this  kind  saves  an  ambitious  man  from  many  foolish 
ventures.  By  holding  himself  aloof  from  women, 
he  never  allows  his  physical  nature  to  react  upon 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  97 

his  moral  nature.  Lucien's  happiness  realized  the 
dreams  of  penniless  poets  starving  in  a  garret. 
Esther,  the  very  ideal  of  a  loving  courtesan, 
while  she  recalled  to  Lucien's  mind  the  actress 
Coralie,  with  whom  he  had  lived  for  a  year, 
effaced  her  memory  completely.  All  affectionate 
and  devoted  women  dream  of  seclusion  and  incog- 
nito, and  the  life  of  the  pearl  at  the  bottom  of  the 
sea;  but  with  most  of  them  it  is  only  an  attractive 
fancy,  a  subject  of  conversation,  or  a  proof  of  love 
which  they  think  of  giving  and  yet  never  give; 
but  Esther,  always  living  in  the  delights  of  her 
first  joy,  feeling  herself  constantly  beneath  Lucien's 
first  tender  glance,  lived  for  four  years  without  feel- 
ing an  impulse  of  curiosity.  She  gave  her  whole 
mind  to  obeying  the  letter  of  the  law  laid  down  by 
the  fatal  hand  of  the  Spaniard.  Far  more  than  that! 
In  the  midst  of  the  most  intoxicating  delight,  she 
did  not  make  use  of  that  limitless  power  which  the 
ever  re-awakening  desires  of  a  man  lend  to  the 
woman  he  adores,  to  ask  Lucien  a  single  question  in 
regard  to  Herrera.  The  very  name  of  the  priest 
never  ceased  to  alarm  her;  she  dared  not  think 
of  him.  The  wise  benefits  of  this  man  to  whom 
Esther  certainly  owed  her  education,  her  respecta- 
bility and  her  regeneration  seemed  to  the  poor  girl 
to  be  the  wages  of  hell. 

"  I  shall  pay  dear  for  it  all  some  day,"  she  said  to 
herself  in  terror.  On  every  clear  night  she  went 
out  to  drive  in  a  cab.  She  drove  about  with  a  speed 
no  doubt  enjoined  by  the  priest,  in  some  charming 

7 


98  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

forest  in  the  neighborhood  of  Paris;  at  Boulogne, 
Vincennes,  Romainville  or  Ville  d'Avray,  frequently 
with  Lucien,  and  sometimes  alone  with  Europe.  She 
went  without  fear,  for  whenever  Lucien  was  not 
by  her  side,  she  was  accompanied  by  a  mounted 
groom  dressed  in  the  most  approved  style,  armed 
with  a  real  knife,  whose  physiognomy  and  gaunt  mus- 
cular figure  gave  the  impression  of  great  strength. 
This  additional  protector  was  provided,  after  the 
English-fashion,  with  a  cane,  known  technically  as 
the  "baton  de  longueur"  a  quarterstaff  that  can 
keep  many  assailants  at  a  distance.  Obedient  to 
an  order  of  the  priest,  Esther  had  never  spoken  a 
word  to  this  attendant.  Whenever  she  wished  to 
turn  back,  Europe  called  out  and  the  groom  then 
whistled  to  the  coachman,  who  was  never  very  far 
away.  When  Lucien  walked  with  Esther,  Europe 
and  the  groom  kept  at  a  distance  of  a  hundred  yards, 
like  two  of  those  infernal  pages  that  the  magician 
lends  to  his  favorites  in  the  "  Thousand  and  One 
Nights." 

Parisian  men,  still  more  often  Parisian  women,  do 
not  know  the  charms  of  a  wooded  path  on  a  lovely 
night.  Silence,  moonlight,  and  solitude  calm  the 
body  like  a  bath.  Ordinarily,  Esther  left  her  house 
at  ten  o'clock,  walked  from  midnight  until  one,  and 
returned  by  half  after  two.  She  never  arose  before 
eleven  o'clock,  and  then  she  took  her  bath  and 
dressed  with  that  elaborate  care,  which  demands  too 
much  time  to  be  employed  by  Parisian  women  in 
general  and  is  only  to  be  found  among  courtesans, 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  99 

and  women  of  fashion  who  have  their  whole  Jay  at 
their  disposal.  She  was  never  ready  until  Lucien  came 
and  then  she  went  to  meet  him  like  a  flower  that 
has  just  blossomed.  Her  only  care  was  her  poet's 
happiness.  She  gave  herself  up  to  him  absolutely 
and  allowed  him  the  most  complete  liberty.  She 
never  tried  to  look  beyond  the  house  whose  light 
she  was.  The  priest  had  cautioned  her  in  this 
regard  for  it  was  part  of  his  deep  laid  scheme  that 
Lucien  should  make  love  to  others.  Happiness  has 
no  story,  and  the  story-tellers  of  all  countries  have 
recognized  that  the  words  "they  lived  happily" 
end  all  the  adventures  of  love.  Nothing  beyond 
the  reasons  for  this  fanciful  happiness  in  the  midst 
of  Paris,  can  be  told.  It  was  happiness  in  its  love- 
liest guise:  a  poem,  a  symphony  of  four  years. 
Every  woman  will  say  "  That  is  a  great  deal." 
Neither  Esther  nor  Lucien  had  said  "It  is  too  much." 
For  them  the  formula  "  They  lived  happily  "  was 
still  more  explicit  than  in  the  fairy  tale,  for  they 
had  no  children.  Thus  Lucien  could  flirt  with  whom 
he  liked,  give  way  to  every  poet's  caprice,  and,  let 
us  say  it,  to  the  necessities  of  his  position.  While 
he  was  slowly  climbing  the  ladder,  he  executed  se- 
cret missions  for  certain  statesmen,  co-operating  with 
them  in  their  several  schemes.  In  this  service  he 
was  singularly  discreet.  He  paid  great  attention  to 
Madame  de  Serizy  in  whose  favor,  as  social  gossip 
said,  he  stood  very  high.  Madame  de  Serizy  had 
torn  Lucien  away  from  the  Duchesse  de  Mau- 
frigneuse,  who  as  people  said  "had  lost  her  hold/' 


100  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

one  of  those  phrases  which  women  use  to  revenge 
themselves  on  fortunate  rivals.  Lucien  was,  so  to 
speak,  in  the  bosom  of  the  Grand  Almonry  and  in 
the  confidence  of  several  women  who  were  friends 
of  the  Archbishop  of  Paris.  Prudent  and  unassuming 
he  waited  with  patience.  Thus  the  speech  of  de  Mar- 
say,  who  at  this  time  was  married  and  was  obliging 
his  wife  to  lead  a  life  as  retired  as  Esther's,  embodied 
more  than  one  keen  observation.  But  the  subma- 
rine dangers  of  Lucien 's  situation  will  be  brought  to 
light  during  the  course  of  this  story. 

In  these  circumstances  on  a  beautiful  night  in 
the  month  of  August,  the  Baron  de  Nucingen  was 
driving  back  to  Paris  from  the  estate  of  a  foreign 
banker  established  in  France  at  whose  house  he 
had  been  dining.  This  estate  was  in  Brie  at  eight 
leagues  from  Paris.  But  as  the  baron's  coachman 
had  boasted  that  he  could  drive  his  master  thither 
and  back  with  his  own  horses,  the  man  took  the 
liberty  of  going  slowly  after  night  had  fallen.  As 
they  enter  the  wood  of  Vincennes,  the  situation  of 
horses,  servants,  and  master  was  as  follows:  After 
liberal  potations  in  the  pantry  of  the  illustrious  au- 
tocrat of  the  exchange,  the  coachman,  completely 
intoxicated,  slept,  still  holding  the  reins  in  order  to 
deceive  the  passers-by.  The  groom  behind,  snored 
as  loud  as  a  top  that  has  been  brought  from  Ger- 
many, the  country  of  tiny  figures  of  carved  wood, 
of  great  "  Reinganum  "  and  tops.  The  baron  was  in- 
clined to  reflection,  but  when  the  bridge  of  Gournay 
was  passed,  the  soothing  influence  of  digestion  closed 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  IOI 

his  eyes.  The  slackness  of  the  reins  told  the  horses 
of  the  coachman's  condition;  they  heard  the  deep 
bass  of  the  groom  perched  on  the  dicky,  and  feel- 
ing themselves  their  own  masters,  they  made  use  of 
their  short  period  of  liberty  to  move  leisurely  on  at 
their  own  sweet  wills.  Like  intelligent  slaves,  they 
offered  to  robbers  the  opportunity  of  rifling  one  of 
the  richest  capitalists  of  France,  the  most  profoundly 
cunning  of  all  that  class  which  eventually  acquired 
the  significant  name  of  "lynxes."  In  short,  now 
that  they  were  under  no  control,  and  attracted  by 
that  curiosity  which  everybody  has  noticed  among 
domestic  animals,  they  stopped  at  a  turn  in  the 
road  in  front  of  another  pair  of  horses,  to  whom 
they  were  doubtless  saying  in  brute-language: 
"Whom  do  you  belong  to?  What  are  you  doing? 
Are  you  happy  ?  "  When  the  carriage  stopped 
moving,  the  drowsy  baron  waked  up.  At  first, 
he  thought  that  he  had  not  left  his  friend's 
park;  then  he  was  astonished  by  a  heavenly  vision 
which  surprised  him  without  his  accustomed  weapon, 
calculation.  The  moonlight  was  so  brilliant  that  it 
was  possible  to  read  even  a  newspaper.  In  the 
silence  of  the  woods  and  in  this  pure  light  the  baron 
saw  a  woman,  alone,  who  was  just  stepping  into 
her  cab  watching  the  extraordinary  spectacle  of 
his  sleeping  carriage.  At  the  sight  of  this  lovely 
being  the  Baron  de  Nucingen  felt  as  though  a  light 
had  been  kindled  within  him.  Perceiving  that  she 
was  admired,  the  girl  lowered  her  veil  with  a  fright- 
ened gesture.  The  mounted  groom  uttered  a  hoarse 


102  SPLENDORS  AND   MISERIES 

cry.  Its  significance  was  well  understood  by  the 
coachman,  for  the  cab  darted  off  like  an  arrow.  The 
old  banker  felt  excessively  excited.  The  blood 
rushed  from  his  feet  to  his  brain  and  set  that  on  fire, 
and  then  the  flames  turned  back  to  his  heart.  His 
throat  contracted,  and  the  wretched  man  feared  an 
attack  of  indigestion;  yet  in  spite  of  this  supreme 
apprehension,  he  sprang  to  his  feet. 

"Hi!  Du  pig  plockhead.  After!  after!"  he 
screamed.  "  Ein  hundert  franc  eef  du  gatch  dat 
garriage." 

At  these  words,  "a  hundred  francs,"  the  coach- 
man started  up  and  the  groom  heard  them  no  doubt 
in  his  sleep.  The  baron  repeated  the  offer;  the 
coachman  lashed  his  horses  into  a  gallop  and  near 
the  Barriere  du  Trone  succeeded  in  catching  up  with 
a  cab  that  bore  some  resemblance  to  that  in  which 
Nucingen  had  seen  the  heavenly  stranger.  It  was 
occupied,  however,  by  the  commission  agent  of 
some  large  firm  and  a  well-dressed  woman  of  the 
rue  Vivienne.  This  mistake  dismayed  the  baron, 

"  Ef  I  had  taken  Chorge — meaning  George — in 
your  stead,  du  pig  prute,  he  vud  haf  gaught  ze 
vooman,"  said  he  to  his  servant  while  the  officers 
examined  the  carriage. 

"  Oh,  sir,  I  think  the  devil  was  in  that  footman's 
livery,  and  changed  his  carriage  into  this  one." 

"  Zere  ees  no  tefil,"  ejaculated  the  baron. 

The  Baron  de  Nucingen  at  this  time  admitted  him- 
self to  be  sixty  years  of  age.  Women  had  come  to 
be  perfectly  indifferent  to  him,  and  for  the  strongest 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  103 

of  reasons,  the  woman's.  His  boast  was  that  he 
had  never  known  the  love  that  leads  to  folly.  He 
looked  upon  his  emancipation  from  women  as  a 
blessing  and  said,  calmly,  that  the  most  heavenly 
of  them  all  was  not  worth  her  cost  even  if  she  gave 
herself  for  nothing.  People  said  that  he  was  so 
surfeited  with  pleasure  that  he  no  longer  spent  a 
couple  of  thousand  francs  a  month  for  the  pleasure 
of  being  duped.  As  he  sat  in  his  box  at  the  Opera, 
his  indifferent  eye  wandered  tranquilly  over  the 
ballet  dancers.  No  bright  glance  shot  toward  the 
capitalist.  From  out  this  dangerous  band  of  old 
young  girls  and  young  old  women — the  delight  of 
Paris  pleasure-seekers — natural  love,  false  love, 
self-love,  love  of  respectability  and  of  vanity,  love 
of  elegance,  virtuous  love,  married  love,  whimsical 
love,  the  baron  had  bought  them  all,  had  known 
them  all  except  true  love.  This  love  now  swooped 
upon  him  as  a  bird  on  his  prey,  as  it  once  swooped 
upon  Gentz,  the  confidant  of  his  Highness,  the  prince 
of  Metternich.  Everybody  knows  the  absurdities  that 
this  old  diplomat  was  guilty  of  for  the  sake  of  Fanny 
Elssler  and  how  he  cared  far  more  to  see  her  dance 
than  to  listen  to  the  interests  of  Europe.  The  woman 
who  had  overturned  the  iron-bound  chest,  called 
Nucingen,  seemed  to  him  like  a  woman  unique 
in  her  generation.  We  cannot  be  sure  that  Titian's 
mistress,  Leonardo  da  Vinci's  Mona  Lisa,  Raphael's 
Fornarina  were  as  beautiful  as  the  majestic  Esther 
in  whom  the  most  carefully  practiced  eye  in  Paris 
could  not  have  recognized  the  faintest  trace  of  the 


104  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

courtesan.  Besides,  the  baron  was  overpowered  by 
that  fine  aristocratic  air  of  womanhood,  which  Esther, 
beloved  and  surrounded  by  luxury,  refinement  and 
devotion,  had  in  the  greatest  perfection.  Happy 
love  is  the  consecrated  oil  of  woman's  life.  With  it 
they  become  proud  as  empresses. 

For  a  week  the  baron  drove  every  night  in  the 
wood  of  Vincennes,  then  in  Bois  de  Boulogne,  then 
in  the  wood  of  Ville-d'Avray,  then  in  the  wood  of 
Meudon,  and  finally  through  every  environ  in  Paris 
in  a  vain  search  for  Esther.  Her  splendid  Jewish 
face,  which  he  called  "a  vace  of  ze  piple,"  was 
always  before  his  eyes.  At  the  end  of  a  fortnight 
he  lost  his  appetite.  Delphine  de  Nucingen  and  her 
daughter  Augusta,  whom  the  baroness  was  just  in- 
troducing into  society,  did  not  perceive  at  first  the 
change  that  was  wrought  in  the  baron.  The  mother 
and  daughter  never  saw  him  except  in  the  morning 
at  breakfast,  and  in  the  evening,  at  dinner,  when- 
ever they  all  dined  at  home,  which  was  only  on  the 
days  when  Delphine  had  company.  But  at  the  end 
of  two  months,  seized  by  feverish  impatience  and  a 
prey  to  a  trouble  closely  akin  to  homesickness,  the 
baron,  amazed  at  the  uselessness  of  his  money  bags, 
grew  thin  and  appeared  so  ill  that  Delphine  had 
secret  hopes  of  becoming  a  widow.  She  mourned 
hypocritically  over  her  husband  and  kept  her  daugh- 
ter at  home.  She  overwhelmed  her  husband  with 
questions;  he  answered  as  the  English  do  when  they 
are  provoked,  scarcely  at  all.  Delphine  de  Nucingen 
gave  a  great  dinner  every  Sunday.  She  had  chosen 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  IO$ 

to  receive  on  that  day  because  she  had  noticed  that 
in  good  society  nobody  went  to  the  theatre  on  that 
day,  so  that  it  was  ordinarily  left  quite  without 
engagements.  The  invasion  of  shop-keepers  or 
country  people  makes  Sunday  almost  as  dull  in 
Paris  as  in  London. 

Thus  the  baroness  invited  the  famous  Desplein  to 
dine,  in  order  to  have  a  consultation,  in  spite  of  the 
sufferer's  protestations  that  he  had  never  felt  better 
in  his  life.  Keller,  Rastignac,  de  Marsay,  du  Tillet, 
all  friends  of  the  family,  had  given  the  baroness  to 
understand  that  a  man  like  Nucingen  must  not  die 
suddenly.  His  vast  business  demanded  precautions; 
it  was  essential  to  know  what  enterprises  should  be 
continued.  These  gentlemen  were  asked  to  dinner 
and  together  with  them  the  Comte  de  Gondreville, 
Francois  Keller's  father-in-law,  the  Chevalier  d'Es- 
pard,  des  Lupeaulx,  Doctor  Bianchon,  Desplein's 
favorite  pupil;  Beaudenord  and  his  wife,  the  Comte 
and  Comtesse  de  Montcornet,  Blondet,  Mademoiselle 
des  Touches  and  Conti,  and  lastly,  Lucien  de  Rub- 
empre,  for  whom,  five  years  since,  Rastignac  had 
conceived  the  most  enthusiastic  friendship — but 
"  per  order,"  as  they  say  on  placards. 

"We  sha'nt  get  rid  of  him  too  easily,"  remarked 
Blondet  to  Rastignac,  as  he  saw  Lucien  enter  the 
drawing-room,  handsomer  than  ever,  and  dressed 
with  admirable  effect. 

"  It  were  better  to  make  a  friend  of  him,  for  he's 
to  be  feared,"  said  Rastignac. 

"  He?" interposed  de  Marsay.   "Nobody's position 


106  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

is  to  be  feared  unless  it  be  clearly  defined.  His 
is  rather  unattacked  than  impregnable!  What  do 
you  suppose  he  lives  on?  Whence  comes  his  for- 
tune? I'm  sure  that  he's  some  sixty  thousand  francs 
in  debt." 

"  He  has  found  a  very  rich  protector  in  a  Spanish 
priest  who  is  devoted  to  him,"  answered  Rastignac. 

"  He's  marrying  the  eldest  Mademoiselle  de  Grand- 
lieu,"  said  Mademoiselle  des  Touches. 

"Yes,"  returned  the  Chevalier  d'Espard,  "but 
they  require  him  to  buy  an  estate  with  an  income  of 
thirty  thousand  francs  to  insure  the  fortune  that  his 
bride  will  bring  him.  He  needs  a  million,  and  a 
million  isn't  to  be  found  in  the  pocket  of  any 
Spaniard." 

"  That's  dear,  for  Clotilde  is  very  plain,"  said  the 
baroness. 

Madame  de  Nucingen  habitually  called  Made- 
moiselle de  Grandlieu  by  her  Christian  name,  as 
if  she,  born  a  Goriot,  were  accustomed  to  such 
society. 

"No,"  replied  du  Tillet,  "the  daughter  of  a 
duchess  never  looks  ugly  to  our  eyes,  above  all 
when  she  brings  the  title  of  marquis  and  a  diplo- 
matic position.  But  the  greatest  stumbling-block  in 
the  way  of  the  marriage  is  Madame  de  Serizy's  mad 
love  for  Lucien.  She  probably  loads  him  with 
money." 

"  I'm  not  surprised  to  see  Lucien  so  serious;  for 
Madame  de  Serizy  will  not  be  likely  to  give  him 
a  million  to  help  him  marry  Mademoiselle  de 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE.  107 

Grandlieu.  Doubtless  he's  at  a  loss  what  to  do," 
said  de  Marsay. 

"Yes,  but  Mademoiselle  de  Grandlieu  worships 
him,"  said  the  Comtesse  de  Montcornet,  "and  with 
her  aid  perhaps  he  will  get  better  terms." 

"  What  will  he  do  with  his  sister  and  his  brother- 
in-law,  d'Angoulerne?"  asked  the  Chevalier  d'Espard. 

"But  the  sister's  rich,"  replied  Rastignac,  "and 
now  he  thinks  her  certain  to  become  Madame 
Sechard  de  Marsac." 

"Difficulties  or  none,  he's  a  handsome  man," 
added  Bianchon,  as  he  rose  to  greet  Lucien. 

"  How  are  you,  my  boy?"  said  Rastignac,  shaking 
Lucien  warmly  by  the  hand. 

De  Marsay  returned  Lucien's  bow  with  cold  polite- 
ness. 

Before  dinner,  Desplein  and  Bianchon,  while  they 
laughed  and  joked,  examined  the  Baron  de  Nucin- 
gen  and  perceived  that  his  trouble  was  entirely 
mental.  Nobody,  however,  could  divine  its  cause, 
for  nobody  dreamed  that  this  lynx  of  the  Stock  Ex- 
change could  be  in  love.  Bianchon,  divining  that 
nothing  except  love  which  could  explain  the  patho- 
logical condition  of  the  banker,  spoke  a  word  or  two 
to  Delphine  de  Nucingen,  who  smiled  like  a  woman 
who  has  long  since  guessed  her  husband's  trouble. 
After  dinner  when  the  company  went  out  into  the 
garden,  the  closer  friends  of  the  family  scrutinized 
the  banker,  trying  to  comprehend  his  extraordinary 
case  by  listening  to  Bianchon's  opinion  that  Nucin- 
gen must  be  in  love. 


108  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

"Are  you  aware,  baron,"  said  de  Marsay  to  the 
banker,  "that  you've  grown  very  thin,  and  that 
people  suspect  you  of  breaking  the  laws  of  nature's 
economy?" 

"  Nefer,"  protested  the  baron. 

"  But  they  do,"  insisted  de  Marsay,  "they  dare 
to  pretend  that  you're  in  love." 

"  Eet's  drue,"  answered  Nucingen,  piteously,  "  I 
zigh  vor  zometing  unknown." 

"You,  in  love,  you?  You're  a  fool!"  said  the 
Chevalier  d'Espard. 

"To  pe  in  luff,  at  my  age,  I  know  vel  dat  netting 
ees  more  riteeculous.  But  id's  drue." 

"  Is  she  a  woman  in  society?"  inquired  Lucien. 

"  But,"  said  de  Marsay,  "the  baron  would  never 
waste  away  if  his  love  were  not  hopeless.  He  can 
afford  to  buy  any  woman  who  needs  money  or  who 
is  on  sale." 

"  I  to  nod  know  her  ad  all,"  answered  the  baron, 
"ant  I  can  say  eet  now,  for  Matame  ti  Nucingen  ees 
in  ze  salon;  I  haf  nefer  known  what  luff  vas  bevore. 
Luff?  I  tink  it  ees  to  vaste  avay." 

"  Where  was  it  that  you  met  this  guileless  crea- 
ture?" asked  Rastignac. 

"In  ze  garriage  ad  mitnight,  in  ze  vood  of  Fin- 
cennes." 

"  Describe  her,"  said  de  Marsay. 

"  Ein  vite  cauze  vrill,  pink  tress,  vite  shawl,  vite 
veil.  Druly  a  vace  of  ze  piple.  Eyes  like  vire.  A 
complexion  of  ze  East." 

"You  were  dreaming!"  said  Lucien  smiling. 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  IOQ 

"  Eet's  drue;  I  vas  zleeping  like  a  log,  a  pig  log," 
he  continued,  "  for  it  happenet  as  I  vas  coming  pack 
from  ze  country-blace  of  mein  frient." 

"  Was  she  alone?"  demanded  du  Tillet,  interrupt- 
ing the  lynx. 

"  Yez,"  said  the  baron  in  a  dejected  tone,  "exzept 
ein  vootman  ant  eine  vaiting  vooman." 

"  Lucien  looks  as  if  he  had  his  suspicions,"  cried 
Rastignac,  as  he  noticed  a  smile  on  the  face  of 
Esther's  lover. 

"Who  is  there  who  does  not  know  women  that 
might  meet  Nucingen  at  midnight?"  said  Lucien 
twirling  round. 

"  Then  it  isn't  a  woman  who  goes  into  society?" 
asked  the  Chevalier  d'Espard,  "for  the  baron  would 
have  recognized  the  footman." 

"I  haf  nefer  seen  her  any  vare,"  replied  the 
baron,  "  ant  for  forty  tays  I  haf  hat  ze  bolice  look- 
ing for  her  ant  they  to  nod  fmt  her." 

"It  is  better  that  she  should  cost  you  a  few 
hundred  thousands  of  francs  than  that  she  should 
cost  you  your  life,  and  at  your  age  an  unfed  pas- 
sion is  dangerous,"  said  Desplein.  "  You  might  die 
of  it." 

"Yes,"  answered  the  baron,  turning  to  the  last 
speaker,  "  ze  tings  I  ead  to  nod  nourish  me.  Ze  air 
zeems  teatly.  I  go  to  ze  vood  at  Fincennes  to  zee 
ze  blace  where  I  zaw  her.  Ach,  ze  life  zat  I  leat! 
I  haf  nod  peen  able  to  attent  to  ze  last  loan.  I  haf 
asked  ze  advize  of  my  bartners,  ant  zey  have  bitied 
me.  I  would  gif  ein  million  to  know  zat  vooman. 


1 10  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

Ich  will  fmt  her,  for  now  I  nefer  go  to  ze  Exchanghe. 
Ask  ti  Dilet." 

"Yes,"  answered  du  Tillet.  "He  has  lost  all 
taste  for  business;  he  is  changing  his  nature,  and 
that  is  a  symptom  of  approaching  death." 

"A  zympdom  of  luff,"  continued  Nucingen,  "ant 
mit  me  zat  is  ze  same  ting." 

The  simplicity  of  this  old  man,  who  was  a  lynx 
no  longer,  now  that  for  the  first  time  in  his  life  he 
had  found  something  more  holy  and  more  sacred 
than  gold,  touched  this  group  of  worldly  people. 
Some  looked  at  one  another  and  smiled,  others 
looked  at  Nucingen,  plainly  thinking:  "A  man  as 
strong  as  he  to  come  to  this!"  Then  everybody 
went  back  to  the  drawing-room  discussing  what  had 
happened.  It  was  certainly  an  event  of  a  nature 
most  likely  to  create  a  great  sensation.  Madame 
de  Nucingen  laughed  when  Lucien  disclosed  the 
banker's  secret,  but,  noticing  his  wife's  derision,  the 
baron  took  her  by  the  arm  and  led  her  into  the  em- 
brasure of  a  window. 

"Matame,"  said  he  in  a  low  tone,  "haf  I  efer 
uttered  ein  zyllaple  of  mockery  in  regart  to  all  your 
lufs  zat  you  should  zneer  ad  mine?  Eine  gut  vife 
vud  dry  to  help  her  husband  mitout  zneering  ad  him 
as  you  to." 

By  the  old  banker's  description,  Lucien  had  recog- 
nized Esther.  Already  troubled  that  his  smile  had 
been  noted,  he  profited  by  a  moment's  general  con- 
versation while  the  waiters  were  passing  the  coffee 
about,  to  disappear. 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  III 

"What  has  become  of  Monsieur  de  Rubempre?" 
asked  the  Barorme  de  Nucingen. 

"  He  is  faithful  to  his  motto:  "Quid  me  confine- 
bit,"  answered  Rastignac. 

"That  means  'Who  can  keep  me,'  or  '  I  am  in- 
vincible,' as  you  will,"  remarked  de  Marsay. 

"At  the  moment  that  the  baron  described  his 
vision,  Lucien's  face  relaxed  into  a  smile  that  made 
me  think  the  woman  must  be  an  acquaintance  of 
his,"  said  Horace  Bianchon,  not  thinking  of  the 
danger  of  so  natural  an  observation. 

"Gut!"  said  the  banker  to  himself. 

Like  all  hopeless  invalids,  the  baron  grasped  at 
anything  which  bore  the  semblance  of  hope,  and 
he  determined  to  have  Lucien  watched  by  other 
spies  than  those  of  Louchard,  the  cleverest  com- 
mercial detective  in  Paris,  with  whom  he  had  been 
in  communication  for  the  past  fortnight. 


Before  he  went  to  Esther,  it  was  Lucien's  duty  to 
pass  at  the  Grandlieus'  house  the  two  hours  which 
were  to  make  Mademoiselle  Clotilde-Frederique  de 
Grandlieu  the  happiest  girl  in  the  Faubourg  Saint 
Germain.  The  prudence  which  characterized  the 
conduct  of  this  young  and  ambitious  man  counseled 
him  to  lose  no  time  in  telling  Carlos  Herrera  of  the 
effect  which  his  smile  at  the  baron's  description  of 
Esther  had  produced.  Nucingen's  love  for  Esther 
and  his  intention  of  setting  the  police  on  the  track 
of  his  unknown  idol  were  themselves  of  enough 
importance  to  communicate  to  a  man  who  had  sought 
beneath  the  cassock  the  sanctuary  which  criminals 
of  old  found  in  the  church.  Besides  Lucien's  road 
from  the  Rue  de  Saint  Lazare,  where  the  banker 
lived  at  this  time,  to  the  Rue  Saint  Dominique, where 
the  Grandlieus'  house  was  situated,  led  directly  past 
his  own  apartment  on  the  Quai  Malaquais.  Lucien 
found  his  grim  friend  smoking  his  breviary,  that  is 
to  say,  puffing  a  pipe  before  going  to  bed.  The 
man's  tastes  were  not  so  foreign  as  his  nature,  and 
he  had  given  up  the  Spanish  cigars  which  he  found 
too  mild  for  nim. 

"  This  is  growing  serious,"  answered  the  Spaniard 
when  Lucien  had  told  him  all.  "  Since  the  baron 

8  (H3) 


114  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

employs  Louchard  to  hunt  down  the  girl,  he  may  be 
shrewd  enough  to  have  you  tracked,  and  if  he  does, 
everything  will  come  to  light.  I  have  none  too 
much  of  the  night  and  morning  left  to  arrange  my 
plans  for  the  game  that  I  shall  play  against  the  baron. 
First  of  all  I  shall  show  him  the  impotence  of  the 
police.  When  our  lynx  has  lost  all  hope  of  finding 
his  lamb,  I  agree  to  sell  her  to  him  for  what  she  is 
worth." 

"Sell  Esther!"  screamed  Lucien,  whose  first  im- 
pulse was  always  excellent. 

"So,  you  forget  our  position,"  returned  Carlos 
Herrera. 

Lucien  hung  his  head. 

"Money  gone,"  the  Spaniard  went  on,  "and  sixty 
thousand  francs  of  debts  to  pay.  If  you  wish  to 
marry  Clotilde  de  Grandlieu  you  must  buy  an  estate 
worth  a  million  to  insure  the  fortune  that  goes  with 
her  ugly  face.  So  you  see  Esther  is  the  hare  and  I 
am  coursing  her  with  this  lynx,  and  hope  to  fleece 
him  of  a  million.  That  is  my  business." 

"  Esther  would  never — " 

"That  is  my  business." 

"  She  will  die." 

"  That  is  the  funeral's  business.  Besides  after- 
wards?," cried  the  brutal  priest  with  a  manner 
that  checked  Lucien 's  remonstrances. 

"  How  many  generals  died  in  the  prime  of  their 
lives  for  the  Emperor  Napoleon?"  he  asked  of  Lucien 
after  a  moment's  silence.  "A  man  never  wants 
for  women!  In  1821,  in  your  eyes,  Coralie  had 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  11$ 

not  her  peer:  then  you  had  not  yet  met  Esther. 
After  this  girl  will  come,  do  you  know  who?  The 
undiscovered  woman!  Of  all  women  she  shall  be 
the  most  beautiful  and  you  shall  seek  her  in  that 
capital  where  the  son-in-law  of  the  Due  de  Grandlieu 
represents  the  king  of  France  as  minister.  And 
tell  me,  foolish  boy,  do  you  think  Esther  will  die? 
Can  the  husband  of  Mademoiselle  de  Grandlieu  still 
keep  Esther?  So  let  me  have  my  way.  You 
haven't  the  worry  of  thinking  about  everything. 
That's  my  business.  You  must  do  without  Esther 
for  a  week  or  two,  but  you  shall  go  to  the  Rue 
Taitbout  all  the  same.  Walk  your  safe  path,  bill 
and  coo,  play  your  part  carefully,  slip  into  Clotilde's 
hand  the  burning  letter  that  you  wrote  this  morning 
and  bring  me  back  a  note  that  has  some  passion  in  it. 
Writing  will  console  her  for  her  troubles.  That  girl 
suits  me.  You  will  find  Esther  a  little  sad,  but  tell 
her  to  obey.  We  need  our  liveries  of  virtue,  our 
cloaks  of  honesty,  the  screens  behind  which  great 
men  hide  their  infamy;  my  present  character  is  at 
stake,  and  so  is  yours,  which  must  never  be  doubted. 
Chance  has  served  us  better  than  I  calculated, 
though  for  the  past  two  months  my  brains  have  been 
busy  enough."  As  Carlos  Herrera  uttered  these 
terrible  sentences,  which  came  out,  one  by  one, 
with  the  effect  of  pistol  shots,  he  was  dressing 
and  making  ready  for  a  walk. 

"I  can  see  your  delight,"  cried  Lucien;  "you 
never  loved  poor  Esther,  and  you  watch  in  ecstasy 
for  the  moment  that  you  can  rid  yourself  of  her." 


116  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

"You  are  never  tired  of  loving  her,  are  you? 
Just  so,  I  am  never  tired  of  hating  her.  But  haven't 
I  always  acted  as  if  I  were  sincerdy  devoted  to  the 
girl,  I,  who  through  Asia  held  her  life  in  my  hands? 
A  few  poisonous  mushrooms  in  a  stew,  and  all 
would  have  been  over.  And  yet  Mademoiselle 
Esther  Jives!  She  is  happy!  Do  you  know  why? 
It's  because  you  love  her.  Don't  be  a  child.  For 
four  years  we  have  waited  to  see  whether  the  cards 
were  for  or  against  us;  you  see  we  must  use  some- 
thing more  than  skill  to  pluck  the  fruit  that  fate 
hangs  over  our  path.  In  every  stroke  of  fortune 
there  is  good  and  ill,  and  so  there  is  in  this.  Do 
you  know  what  I  was  thinking  of  as  you  came  in?" 

"No." 

"  Of  making  myself,  here,  as  at  Barcelona,  the 
heir  of  a  devout  old  woman  by  Asia's  help." 

"A  crime?" 

"It  is  my  only  chance  to  make  your  happiness 
certain.  The  creditors  are  growing  uneasy.  Once 
pursued  by  officers  and  chased  from  the  Grandlieus* 
house,  what  would  become  of  you  ?  The  devil 
would  demand  his  due." 

Carlos  Herrera  described  with  a  gesture  the  sui- 
cide of  a  man  leaping  into  the  water;  then  he  fixed 
his  penetrating  gaze  upon  Lucien,  such  a  look  as 
forces  the  will  of  a  strong  mind  to  enter  the  soul  of 
a  weaker  man.  This  fascinating  look  overcame  the 
last  traces  of  resistance  and  betrayed  the  existence 
not  only  of  secrets  of  life  and  death  between  Lucien 
and  his  mentor,  but  also  of  passions  as  far  above 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  117 

the  ordinary  passions  of  life  as  the  priest  was  above 
the  baseness  of  his  position. 

Condemned  to  live  apart  from  society  and  for- 
bidden by  law  ever  to  return;  worn  by  vice,  by 
anger  and  by  fearful  struggles  against  himself,  but 
endowed  with  a  consuming  strength  of  intellect,  this 
man  who  was  at  once  mean  and  great,  obscure  and 
famous,  burning  with  a  life-long  fever  of  ambition, 
lived  once  more  in  the  graceful  person  of  Lucien, 
whose  soul  he  had  made  his  own.  He  was  repre- 
sented in  society  by  this  poet  to  whom  he  gave  his 
character  and  his  iron  will.  To  him  Lucien  was 
more  than  a  son,  more  than  a  beloved  wife,  more 
than  a  family,  more  than  life  itself;  he  was  his  re- 
venge. Thus  as  strong  minds  cling  more  closely  to 
an  idea  than  to  reality,  he  was  bound  to  him  by 
indissoluble  ties. 

He  had  bought  Lucien 's  life  just  as  the  despairing 
poet  was  on  the  verge  of  suicide,  and  then  he  had 
made  with  him  one  of  those  hellish  compacts,  which 
are  never  seen  except  in  novels,  but  whose  awful 
possibility  has  often  been  shown  in  court  in  the 
famous  dramas  of  the  law.  Heaping  upon  Lucien 
all  the  pleasures  of  Parisian  life,  convincing  him  that 
a  triumphant  future  was  still  possible,  he  had  made 
him  his  tool.  From  the  moment  that  he  revived 
in  a  second  self,  no  sacrifice  was  too  bitter  for  this 
strange  man.  With  all  his  strength  he  was  so  feeble 
against  the  whims  of  his  creature  that  he  had  event- 
ually entrusted  him  with  all  his  secrets.  Perhaps 
this  complicity,  entirely  moral  though  it  was,  made 


Il8  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

one  more  bond  between  them.  From  the  day  that 
La  Torpille  had  been  carried  away,  Lucien  knew  the 
horrible  pedestal  on  which  his  happiness  stood. 

The  cassock  of  a  Spanish  priest  hid  Jacques 
Collin,  a  notorious  criminal,  who  ten  years  before 
had  lived  under  the  ordinary  name  of  Vautrin  in 
the  Vauquer  boarding-house  where  Rastignac  and 
Bianchon  were  quartered  at  the  time.  Jacques 
Collin,  surnamed  "  Trompe-la-Mort,"  escaped  from 
Rochefort  almost  immediately  after  he  had  been 
sent  back  there,  and  turned  to  good  account  the  ex- 
ample given  by  the  famous  Comte  de  Sainte-Helene, 
while  he  modified  the  more  criminal  portions  of 
Coignard's  plan.  To  go  about  in  the  guise  of  an 
honest  man,  and  still  to  lead  the  life  of  a  galley- 
slave,  is  a  proposition,  in  terms  so  contradictory  that 
eventual  detection  is  inevitable,  especially  at  Paris; 
for,  when  a  criminal  enters  a  household,  he  increases 
tenfold  the  dangers  that  surround  his  imposture.  To 
be  beyond  pursuit,  must  not  a  man  reach  a  level 
above  the  commonplace  incidents  of  life?  In  society 
a  man  runs  risks  which  come  but  rarely  to  men 
who  have  no  dealings  with  society.  Then,  too, 
the  cassock  is  the  most  secure  of  all  disguises,  when 
the  counterfeit  priest  can  support  it  by  an  exemplary, 
solitary  and  inactive  life. 

"I  will  turn  priest,"  thought  this  dead  layman, 
who  longed  to  live  once  more  as  a  member  of  society 
and  to  satisfy  passions  as  strange  as  himself. 

The  civil  war,  which  the  Constitution  of  1812  had 
kindled  in  Spain,  where  this  man  of  passionate 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE.  IIQ 

energy  had  gone,  enabled  him  to  have  the  real 
Carlos  Herrera  killed  in  a  secret  ambush.  Natural 
son  of  a  noble  lord,  long  since  abandoned  by  his 
father,  ignorant  even  of  her  to  whom  he  owed  his 
existence,  this  priest,  at  the  recommendation  of  a 
bishop,  was  entrusted  by  King  Ferdinand  VII.  with 
a  secret  mission  to  France.  The  bishop,  who  was 
the  only  man  who  felt  an  interest  in  Carlos  Herrera, 
died  while  this  forlorn  hope  of  the  church  was  mak- 
ing the  journey  from  Cadiz  to  Madrid  and  from 
Madrid  to  France.  After  his  fortunate  meeting  with 
a  man  whose  personality  was  so  well  adapted  to  his 
schemes,  Jacques  Collin  cut  gashes  in  his  own 
back  in  order  to  efface  the  fatal  letters,  and  altered 
his  face  by  means  of  chemical  processes.  Before 
destroying  the  priest's  body,  he  transformed  his  own 
into  the  closest  possible  imitation  of  it,  and  suc- 
ceeded in  giving  himself  some  resemblance  to  his 
Tosia.  To  complete  a  metamorphosis  almost  as  mar- 
velous as  that  which  is  told  in  the  Arabian  story, 
where  the  dervish  in  his  old  age  acquires  the  power  of 
entering  a  youthful  body  by  the  aid  of  magic  spells, 
the  galley-slave,  who  was  already  familiar  with  Span- 
ish, picked  up  as  much  Latin  as  an  Andalusian  priest 
would  be  likely  to  know.  Banker  in  three  prisons, 
Collin  had  enriched  himself  by  the  deposits  which 
the  prisoners  had  entrusted  to  his  honesty  that  was 
well  known  and  also  enforced;  for  in  business  like 
his,  dagger-thrusts  wipe  out  mistakes.  To  these 
funds  he  added  the  money  given  by  the  bishop  to 
Carlos  Herrera.  Before  his  departure  from  Spain 


120  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

he  was  able  to  secure  the  treasure  of  a  conscience- 
stricken  woman  of  Barcelona.  He  had  given  her 
absolution  and  at  the  same  time  promised  to  effect 
the  restoration  of  sums  which  his  penitent  had  stolen 
after  committing  a  murder,  and  which  were  the 
source  of  all  her  fortune.  Now  that  he  was  a  priest, 
entrusted  with  a  secret  mission  which  was  to  secure 
for  him  the  most  powerful  patronage  in  Paris, 
Jacques  Collin  resolved  to  do  nothing  to  compro- 
mise the  character  he  had  assumed,  and  abandoned 
himself  to  the  chances  of  his  new.  life.  On  the 
road  from  Angoule'me  to  Paris  he  fell  in  with  Lucien, 
who  seemed  to  the  false  priest  to  furnish  a  weapon 
of  extraordinary  power.  Having  saved  him  from  sui- 
cide he  said  to  him:  "  Give  yourself  up  to  a  priest  of 
God  as  a  man  gives  himself  up  to  the  devil,  and  you 
shall  have  all  the  opportunities  of  a  new  destiny. 
You  shall  live  as  in  a  dream  and  the  worst  awaken- 
ing you  can  have  is  the  death  that  you  have  already 
tried  to  give  yourself." 

The  union  of  these  two  beings  who  became  as  one 
rested  on  this  forcible  argument,  and  in  addition 
Carlos  Herrera  cemented  it  by  a  cunningly  con- 
trived complicity  in  crime.  Gifted  with  a  genius 
for  corruption  he  destroyed  Lucien 's  honesty  by 
plunging  him  into  cruel  necessities  and  rescuing  him 
from  them  only  on  his  tacit  acquiescence  in  ignoble 
and  shameful  actions.  Thus  still  pure,  loyal,  noble 
in  the  eyes  of  the  world,  Lucien  formed  the  social 
splendor  in  whose  shadow  the  forger  wished  to 
dwell. 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  121 

"  I  am  the  author;  you  shall  be  the  play.  If  you 
fail  it  is  I  who  shall  be  hissed,"  he  said  to  Lucien 
the  day  on  which  he  avowed  his  sacrilegious  dis- 
guise. 

Carlos  moved  prudently  from  confession  to  con- 
fession, apportioning  the  infamy  of  his  disclosures  to 
the  strength  of  his  success  and  to  the  necessities  of 
his  pupil.  Thus  Trompe-la-Mort  did  not  surrender 
his  last  secret  until  the  moment  when  the  weak 
poet,  subdued  by  the  habitual  enjoyment  of  Parisian 
pleasures,  of  success  and  of  gratified  vanity,  had 
become  his  slave  body  and  soul.  In  the  very  spot 
where  Rastignac  had  formerly  been  tempted  by  this 
devil  and  stood  fast,  Lucien  fell.  More  adroitly 
handled,  more  craftily  compromised,  the  poet  was 
vanquished  above  all  by  his  delight  at  having  won  a 
position  of  eminence.  Evil,  which  in  its  outward 
form  is  poetically  called  the  devil,  brought  against 
this  man,  half  woman  as  he  was,  all  its  most  alluring 
temptations,  gave  him  much  and  asked  little  in 
return.  Herrera's  main  argument  was  that  eternal 
secret  that  Tartuffe  promised  to  Elmire.  Repeated 
proofs  of  perfect  devotion,  like  that  of  Seid  for 
Mohammed,  finished  the  horrid  work  of  the  subjuga- 
tion of  Lucien  by  a  Jacques  Collin. 

Esther  and  Lucien  had  used  up  all  the  funds  that 
had  been  entrusted  to  the  honesty  of  the  prison 
banker.  This  exposed  them  to  a  terrible  day  of 
reckoning;  but  besides  this,  the  dandy,  the  forger 
and  the  courtesan  all  had  debts.  At  the  moment 
that  Lucien  was  about  to  succeed,  the  tiniest  pebble 


122  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

beneath  the  foot  of  one  of  these  three  beings  might 
bring  down  the  whole  chimerical  framework  of  a 
fortune  so  daringly  built. 

At  the  ball  of  the  Opera  Rastignac  had  recognized 
Vautrin  of  the  Vauquer  establishment,  but  he  knew 
that  indiscretion  meant  death;  besides  Madame  de 
Nucingen's  lover  and  Lucien  exchanged  looks  in 
which  fear  was  hidden  on  either  side  beneath  the 
veneer  of  friendship.  In  the  moment  of  danger  Ras- 
tignac would  undoubtedly  have  been  delighted  to 
provide  the  cart  that  should  carry  Trompe-la-Mort 
to  the  scaffold.  Everyone  can  now  understand  the 
sinister  joy  of  Carlos  Herrera  as  he  heard  of  the  Baron 
de  Nucingen's  love  and  grasped  in  a  single  thought 
all  the  advantage  that  a  man  of  his  stamp  might 
derive  from  the  unfortunate  Esther. 

"  Go,"  he  said  to  Lucien,  "the  devil  protects  his 
almoner." 

"  You  are  smoking  in  a  powder  mill,"  said  Lucien. 

"  Incedo  per  ignes,"  answered  Carlos  with  a 
smile.  "It's  my  trade." 


Toward  the  middle  of  the  last  century  the  Grand- 
lieu  family  was  divided  into  two  branches:  first  the 
ducal  house,  destined  to  come  to  an  end  since  all  the 
children  of  the  living  duke  were  daughters;  secondly, 
the  Vicomtes  de  Grandlieu,  the  direct  heirs  to  the 
title  and  arms  of  the  elder  branch.  The  ducal  line 
bears  gules  with  three  "doulloueres"  or  golden 
battle-axes  arranged  in  fesse,  with  the  famous 
"  CAVEO,  NON  TIMEO!"  for  a  motto,  an  epitome  of 
the  history  of  the  house. 

The  escutcheon  of  the  viscounts  is  quartered 
with  that  of  the  Naverreins,  which  is  gules  with 
embattled  fesse  in  gold  stamped  with  a  knight's  hel- 
ment  and  the  motto  "  GRANDS  FAITS,  GRAND  LIEU!" 
The  present  viscountess,  a  widow  since  1813,  has  a 
son  and  a  daughter.  Although  she  had  come  back 
half  ruined  after  the  emigration,  she  had  recovered 
a  moderate  fortune  through  the  devotion  of  Der- 
ville,  her  lawyer. 

On  their  return  in  1804  the  Due  and  Duchesse  de 
Grandlieu  were  assailed  by  the  blandishments  of 
the  Emperor;  and  Napoleon,  who  saw  them  at  his 
court,  restored  all  that  still  remained  of  the  estate, 
amounting  to  an  income  of  some  forty  thousand 
francs.  Of  all  the  nobles  of  the  Faubourg  Saint 
Germain  who  suffered  themselves  to  be  cajoled  by 

(123) 


124  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

Napoleon,  the  duke  and  duchess — who  was  an 
Ajuda  of  the  elder  branch,  connected  with  the  Bra- 
gances — were  alone  in  refusing  to  renounce  the 
Emperor  and  his  benefits.  Louis  XVIII.  commended 
this  fidelity  when  the  Faubourg  Saint  Germain 
wished  to  cast  it  in  the  teeth  of  the  Grandlieu  family; 
but  possibly  Louis  XVIII. 's  sole  desire  in  this  step  was 
to  exasperate  "monsieur."  Everybody  expected  a 
match  between  the  young  Vicomte  de  Grandlieu 
and  Marie  Athenais,  the  youngest  daughter  of  the 
duke,  at  this  time  aged  nine.  Sabine,  the  next  elder, 
had  been  married  to  the  Baron  du  Guenic  before 
the  revolution  of  July.  Josephine,  the  third,  had 
become  Madame  d'Ajuda-Pinto  after  the  death  of 
the  marquis'  first  wife,  Mademoiselle  de  Rochefide — 
alias  Rochegude.  The  eldest  daughter  had  taken 
the  veil  in  the  year  1822.  The  second,  Mademoiselle 
Clotilde-Frederique,  at  this  time  twenty-seven 
years  of  age,  was  deeply  in  love  with  Lucien  de 
Rubempre.  We  must  not  ask  whether  the  mansion 
of  the  Due  de  Grandlieu,  one  of  the  handsomest  on 
the  Rue  Saint  Dominique,  exerted  a  thousand  fasci- 
nations over  Lucien 's  spirit.  Every  t;me  that  the 
great  gate  swung  back  on  its  hinges  to  admit  his 
carriage,  he  felt  that  tickled  vanity  of  which  Mira- 
beau  used  to  speak. 

"Though  my  father  was  a  plain  apothecary  at 
Houmeau,  I  have  an  entrance  here." 

Such  was  his  thought.  Besides  he  would  have 
committed  many  another  crime  beyond  that  of  his 
league  with  a  forger  to  preserve  the  privilege  of 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  125 

ascending  the  short  flight  of  steps  before  the  porch, 
to  hear  the  lackey  announce  "  Monsieur  de  Rubem- 
pre!"  in  the  great  parlor,  dating  from  the  time  of 
Louis  XIV.,  that  was  built  after  the  fashion  of  the 
salons  of  Versailles,  filled  with  the  cream  of  Parisian 
society,  and  known  at  the  time  as  "  le  petit 
chateau." 

The  noble  Portuguese  lady  who  cared  little  for 
going  abroad,  spent  the  greater  part  of  her  time  sur- 
rounded by  her  neighbors  the  Chaulieus,  the  Naver- 
reins,  and  the  Lenoncourts.  The  pretty  Baronne 
de  Macumer — born  a  de  Chaulieu — ,  the  Duchesse 
de  Maufrigneuse,  Madame  d'Espard,  Madame  de 
Camps,  and  Mademoiselle  des  Touches — who  was 
connected  with  the  Brittany  branch  of  the  Grand- 
lieus — often  came  to  call  there  going  or  coming  from 
the  Opera.  The  Vicomte  de  Grandlieu,  the  Due  de 
Rhetore,  the  Marquis  de  Chaulieu,  who  some  day 
was  to  be  the  Due  de  Lenoncourt-Chaulieu;  his 
wife,  Madeline  de  Mortsauf,  granddaughter  of  the 
Due  de  Lenoncourt;  the  Marquis  d'Ajuda-Pinto,  the 
Prince  de  Blamont-Chauvry,  the  Marquis  de  Beau- 
seant,  the  Vidame  de  Pamiers,  the  Vandenesses,  the 
old  Prince  de  Cadignan,  and  his  son,  the  Due  de 
Maufrigneuse,  were  all  frequent  guests  in  tnis  splen- 
did salon,  where  they  breathed  the  atmosphere  of 
the  court,  and  where  manners,  fashion  and  wit  were 
all  well  suited  to  the  nobility  of  the  family  whose 
aristocratic  bearing  had  eventually  effaced  the  recol- 
lection of  their  Napoleonic  bondage. 

The  old  Duchesse  d'Uxelles,  the  mother  of  the 


126  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

Duchesse  de  Maufrigneuse,  was  the  oracle  of  this 
salon  which  had  been  closed  to  Madame  de  Serizy, 
although  she  was  one  of  the  de  Ronquerolles. 

Introduced  by  Madame  de  Maufrigneuse,  who  had 
forced  her  mother  to  intrigue  in  favor  of  Lucien, 
with  whom  she  had  been  madly  in  love  for  the  past 
two  years,  the  attractive  poet  held  his  position, 
thanks  to  the  influence  of  the  Grand  Almonry  of 
France  and  to  the  aid  of  the  Archbishop  of  Paris. 
He  was  not,  however,  admitted  until  a  royal  pre- 
script had  restored  to  him  the  name  and  arms  of  the 
house  of  Rubempre.  The  Due  de  Rhetore,  the 
Chevalier  d'Espard  and  a  few  others  were  jealous 
of  Lucien  and  periodically  succeeded  in  prejudicing 
the  Due  de  Grandlieu  against  him  by  whispering 
anecdotes  of  his  antecedents.  But  the  pious  duch- 
ess, surrounded  by  the  dignitaries  of  the  church,  and 
Clotilde  de  Grandlieu  upheld  him.  Furthermore, 
Lucien  understood  the  enmity  he  met  with  to  be  in 
consequence  of  his  former  relations  with  Madame 
d'Espard's  cousin,  Madame  de  Bargeton,  who  had 
since  become  Comtesse  du  Chatelet.  Feeling  the 
importance  of  obtaining  a  foothold  in  so  powerful  a 
family  and  urged  by  his  secret  counselor  to  seduce 
the  affections  of  Clotilde,  Lucien  summoned  all  the 
courage  of  an  upstart;  he  went  to  the  house  five 
days  out  of  the  seven,  he  smiled  at  the  poisoned 
arrows  of  envy,  he  endured  with  grace  the  most  in- 
solent of  glances,  and  answered  wittily  to  the  thrusts 
of  his  enemies.  His  constancy,  the  charm  of  his 
manner  and  his  courtesy  hushed  every  scruple  and 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  127 

overcame  every  obstacle.  Always  at  his  best  in  the 
parlors  of  the  Duchessede  Maufrigneuse,  whose  burn- 
ing letters  written  at  the  height  of  her  passion  were 
carefully  preserved  by  Carlos  Herrera;  the  idol  of 
Madame  de  Serizy;  welcomed  to  the  house  of  Made- 
moiselle des  Touches,  Lucien,  well  pleased  as  he 
was  to  be  received  in  these  three  houses,  learned 
from  the  priest  to  maintain  the  utmost  reserve  in  all 
his  relations. 

"  You  must  not  devote  yourself  to  many  house- 
holds at  once,"  said  his  secret  mentor.  "  He  who 
goes  everywhere  has  interest  with  no  one.  The 
great  protect  only  those  whom  they  see  every  day, 
who  rival  their  furniture  and  become  a  necessity  like 
the  sofa  that  they  sit  upon." 

Lucien  was  accustomed  to  think  of  the  salon  of 
the  Grandlieus  as  his  field  of  battle,  and  kept  all 
his  clever  thoughts  and  words,  his  news,  his  courtly 
graces  in  reserve  for  the  evenings  which  he  passed 
there.  Insinuating,  fascinating,  forewarned  by  Clo- 
tilde  of  all  the  dangers  he  must  avoid,  he  flattered 
every  passing  fancy  of  M.  de  Grandlieu.  At  first 
Clotilde  merely  envied  the  happiness  of  the  Du- 
chesse  de  Maufrigneuse,  but  soon  she  learned  to  love 
Lucien  desperately. 

Well  aware  of  all  the  advantages  of  such  an  al- 
liance, Lucien  played  the  lover's  part  as  Armand, 
the  last  young  "star"  of  the  Comedie-Franc.aise, 
would  have  played  it.  He  wrote  Clotilde  letters, 
which  were  certainly  literary  masterpieces  of  the 
first  rank;  and  Clotilde  answered,  trying  to  rival  his 


128  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

genius  in  expressing  her  mad  love  on  paper;  for 
she  had  but  this  way  of  loving.  Every  Sunday 
Lucien  heard  mass  at  Saint  Thomas  Aquinas'.  To 
all  appearances  he  was  a  fervent  Catholic,  and  de- 
voted himself  to  writing  monarchial  and  religious 
tracts  which  accomplished  wonders.  And  then  he 
wrote  admirable  articles  for  all  the  newspapers  de- 
voted to  the  congregation.  He  would  not  consent 
to  take  any  pay,  and  signed  his  contributions  with  a 
simple  "L."  He  brought  out  political  pamphlets  at 
the  request  of  King  Charles  X.,  or  of  the  Grand  Al- 
monry without  demanding  the  slightest  compensation. 

"The  king,"  he  would  say,  "has  done  so  much 
for  me  already  that  I  owe  him  my  life." 

Besides,  for  some  time  past  Lucien  had  been  con- 
sidered for  the  appointment  of  secretary  in  the  cab- 
inet of  the  first  minister;  but  Madame  d'Espard  had 
stirred  up  so  much  opposition  that  the  Maitre  Jacques 
of  Charles  X.  hesitated  to  take  the  step.  Not  only 
was  Lucien 's  position  too  vaguely  defined,  and  the 
words,  "What  does  he  live  upon?"  that  were  on 
every  lip  as  Lucien  rose  into  prominence,  unan- 
swered, but  still  more,  friendly  as  well  as  inimical 
curiosity  went  from  scrutiny  to  scrutiny  and  found 
more  than  one  weak  spot  in  the  cuirass  of  the  am- 
bitious young  hero.  Clotilde  played  into  the  hands 
of  her  father  and  mother  as  an  innocent  spy.  A  few 
days  before,  she  had  drawn  Lucien  into  the  em- 
brasure of  a  window  to  talk  with  him  and  warn  him 
of  the  objections  of  the  family. 

"  Find  an  estate  worth  a  million  and  you  shall 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  I2Q 

have  my  hand.  That  is  what  my  mother  said," 
Clotilda  had  told  him. 

"  They  will  ask  you  later  whence  your  money 
comes,"  Carlos  remarked  when  Lucien  reported  this 
apparently  final  alternative. 

"  My  brother-in-law  must  have  made  a  fortune," 
Lucien  observed.  "We  shall  have  a  responsible 
agent  in  him." 

"  Then  it's  only  the  million  that  we  need,"  Carlos 
cried.  "  I  shall  not  forget  it." 

To  explain  fully  Lucien 's  position  at  the  Grand- 
lieu  house,  we  must  add  that  he  had  never  dined 
there.  Not  Clotilde,  nor  the  Duchesse  d'Uxelles, 
nor  Madame  de  Maufrigneuse,  who  was  always  ex- 
cellently disposed  to  Lucien,  could  wrest  this  favor 
from  the  old  duke,  so  suspicious  did  that  gentleman 
remain  of  the  poet  whom  he  called  "le  sire  de 
Rubempre."  This  shadow,  manifest  to  every  one 
in  the  room,  touched  Lucien 's  pride  to  the  quick  as 
he  felt  that  his  presence  was  scarcely  more  than  tol- 
erated. The  world  has  a  right  to  be  particular;  it  is 
so  often  deceived.  To  shine  in  Paris  without  a  well- 
known  fortune,  without  an  avowed  calling,  is  a  posi- 
tion which  no  artifice  can  long  render  tenable.  The 
higher  Lucien  climbed  the  greater  force  he  gave  to 
the  objection,  "  What  does  he  live  upon?"  He  had 
been  forced  to  admit  to  Madame  de  Serizy,  to  whom 
he  owed  the  support  of  the  attorney-general  Gran- 
ville  and  of  a  minister  of  state,  the  Comte  Octave 
de  Bauvan,  president  at  a  sovereign  court,  that  he 
was  over  head  and  ears  in  debt. 

9 


130  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

As  he  entered  the  court-yard  of  the  house  where 
dwelt  the  realization  of  his  lofty  hopes,  he  said  to 
himself  bitterly,  thinking  of  the  decision  of  Trompe- 
la-Mort: 

"  I  hear  everything  cracking  beneath  my  feet." 

He  loved  Esther,  and  he  wished  Mademoiselle  de 
Grandlieu  to  be  his  wife!  Strange  position!  He 
must  sell  one  to  have  the  other;  one  man  alone 
could  make  the  bargain  without  hurt  to  Lucien's 
honor,  and  that  man  was  the  counterfeit  Spaniard. 
Each  must  be  equally  discreet  toward  the  other.  A 
compact  like  this  in  which  each  is  by  turn  master 
and  slave  is  rare  indeed. 

Lucien  chased  away  the  clouds  that  darkened 
his  brow.  He  entered  the  salon  of  the  Grandlieu 
house  radiantly  gay.  The  windows  chanced  to  be 
open,  and  the  sweet  smells  of  the  garden  perfumed 
the  drawing-room,  in  the  middle  of  which  was  a 
stand  covered  with  a  mass  of  flowers.  The  duch- 
ess, seated  on  a  sofa  in  one  corner,  chatted  with  the 
Duchesse  de  Chaulieu.  Several  ladies  made  up  a 
group  that  was  noticeable  for  the  different  attitudes 
of  its  members,  each  calculated  to  express  some 
feigned  sorrow.  In  society  nobody  is  interested  in 
grief  or  suffering;  there,  words  are  everything.  The 
men  were  pacing  the  salon  or  walking  in  the  garden. 
Clotilde  and  Josephine  were  busied  about  the 
tea-table.  The  Vidame  de  Pamiers,  the  Due  de 
Grandlieu,  the  Marquis  d'Ajuda-Pinto,  and  the  Due 
de  Maufrigneuse  were  playing  whist  in  a  corner. 
When  Lucien  was  announced,  he  crossed  the 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  131 

drawing-room  to  pay  his  respects  to  the  duchess, 
and  asked  her  the  reason  of  the  sadness  painted  upon 
her  face. 

"Madame  de  Chaulieu  has  just  received  some 
dreadful  news:  her  son-in-law,  the  Baron  de 
Macumer,  the  ex-Due  de  Soria,  is  dead.  The 
young  Due  de  Soria  and  his  wife,  who  had  gone 
to  Chantepleurs  to  nurse  their  brother,  have  written 
of  the  sad  event.  Louise  is  completely  overcome." 

"A  woman  is  not  loved  twice  in  her  life  as  Louise 
was  loved  by  her  husband,"  said  Madeleine  de 
Mortsauf. 

"She  will  be  a  rich  widow,"  added  the  old  Du- 
chesse  d'Uxelles,  casting  her  eyes  upon  Lucien, 
whose  face  maintained  its  impassibility. 

"Poor  Louise,"  said  Madame  d'Espard,  "I  un- 
derstand her,  and  I  pity  her." 

The  Marquise  d'Espard  had  the  dreamy  air  of  a 
woman  full  of  soul  and  heart.  Although  Sabine  de 
Grandlieu  was  but  ten  years  old  she  glanced  know- 
ingly at  her  mother,  but  her  almost  mocking  expres- 
sion was  instantly  rebuked  by  a  frown.  This  is 
what  is  called,  "bringing  up  children  well." 

"  If  my  daughter  resists  that  frown,"  said  Madame 
de  Chaulieu,  with  her  most  motherly  air,  "her  fu- 
ture will  make  me  uneasy.  Louise  is  very  romantic." 

"I  cannot  imagine,"  said  the  old  Duchesse 
d'Uxelles,  "from  whom  our  girls  have  acquired  that 
characteristic." 

"It  is  difficult  nowadays,"  said  an  old  cardinal, 
"to  reconcile  the  heart  with  decorous  behavior." 


132  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

Lucien  had  not  a  word  to  say  and  went  toward  the 
tea-table  to  pay  his  compliments  to  the  Mesdemoi- 
selles  de  Grandlieu.  When  the  poet  was  within  a  few 
steps  of  the  group  of  women,  the  Marquise  d'Espard 
bent  toward  the  Duchesse  de  Grandlieu.  "  You  are 
quite  sure  that  he  is  really  in  love  with  your  dear 
Clotilde?"  She  whispered. 

The  perfidy  of  this  question  can  only  be  understood 
after  a  sketch  of  Clotilde  has  been  given.  That 
young  lady  of  twenty-seven  was  standing,  and  her 
attitude  allowed  the  malicious  glance  of  the  Marquise 
d'Espard  to  take  in  the  slight  spare  figure  which 
looked  exactly  like  a  stalk  of  asparagus.  The  poor 
girl's  corsage  was  so  flat  that  it  did  not  even  admit 
of  the  colonial  resource  known  among  dressmakers 
as  "a  false  fichu."  Besides,  Clotilde,  who  knew 
that  her  name  endowed  her  with  sufficient  advan- 
tages, far  from  endeavoring  to  conceal  the  defect, 
took  heroic  measures  to  make  it  prominent.  By 
wearing  tight-fitting  gowns  she  gave  herself  the 
crude  stiff  figure  that  sculptors  of  the  middle  ages 
sought  to  impart  to  the  statues  they  placed  in  relief 
against  the  background  of  cathedral  niches.  Clotilde 
was  five  feet  four  inches.  If  it  be  allowable  to  make 
use  of  a  familiar  expression  which  has,  at  least, 
the  merit  of  being  easily  understood,  she  was  all 
legs.  This  defect  in  proportion  gave  the  upper  part 
of  her  body  an  appearance  of  deformity.  Her  com- 
plexion was  dark;  her  hair  black  and  coarse,  her  eye- 
brows bushy,  and  her  brilliant  eyes  were  already 
surrounded  with  dark  circles.  Her  face  that  was 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  133 

curved  like  the  moon  in  its  first  quarter  was  domi- 
nated by  a  heavy  forehead,  and  made  her  the  very 
caricature  of  her  mother,  one  of  the  most  beautiful 
women  of  Portugal.  Nature  loves  to  play  at  such 
tricks  as  these.  We  often  notice  in  families  a  sister 
of  extraordinary  beauty,  while  the  same  features  in 
the  brother  become  singularly  ugly,  although  the 
two  faces  are  not  without  resemblance.  Clotilde's 
mouth  was  cut  inwards  from  her  face  and  wore  an 
expression  of  stereotyped  disdain.  Her  lips  more 
than  any  other  feature  of  her  face  betrayed  the 
secret  workings  of  her  heart,  for  love  had  printed 
upon  them  a  lovely  look  all  the  more  strange  because 
her  cheeks  were  too  brown  to  blush  and  her  black 
eyes  too  hard  to  tell  her  story.  In  spite  of  her 
great  disadvantages,  in  spite  of  her  stiff  carriage, 
she  derived  from  her  training  and  her  race  an  air  of 
grandeur,  a  lofty  countenance  and  what  the  French 
call  the  "Je  ne  sais  quoi"  due,  perhaps,  to  the  sim- 
plicity of  her  dress,  which  marked  her  as  the  daugh- 
ter 0 f  a  noble  house.  Her  looks  were  improved  by 
her  hair,  and  she  passed  for  a  beauty  on  account  of 
its  luxuriant  thickness  and  length.  Her  voice,  which 
she  had  cultivated,  was  charming;  she  sang  exqui- 
sitely. Clotilde  was  surely  a  young  woman  of 
whom  the  world  says:  "  Her  eyes  are  lovely;"  or, 
"  Her  disposition  is  delightful."  To  someone  who 
addressed  her  after  the  English  fashion  as  "  Your 
Grace,"  she  answered,  "Call  me  'Your  Slender- 
ness.'" 
"  Why  shouldn't  a  man  fall  in  love  with  my  poor 


134  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

Clotilde?"  the  duchess  answered  the  marquise. 
"  Do  you  know  what  she  said  to  me  yesterday? 
'  If  anyone  loves  me  for  the  sake  of  ambition,  I 
shall  make  him  love  me  for  myself.'  She  is  clever 
and  ambitious;  there  are  men  who  delight  in  both 
these  qualities.  As  for  him,  my  dear,  he  is  a  dream 
of  beauty.  And  if  he  can  buy  the  Rubempre 
estate  the  king  will  give  him  back  his  title  of  mar- 
quis as  a  favor  to  us.  After  all,  his  mother  is  the 
last  Rubempr£." 

"Poor  man,  where  can  he  find  the  million?" 
exclaimed  the  marquise. 

"That  is  no  business  of  ours,"  answered  the 
duchess;  "but,  come  what  may,  he  is  incapable  of 
stealing  it.  And  besides,  we  should  never  give 
Clotilde  to  a  schemer,  nor  to  any  dishonest  man 
even  if  he  were  handsome,  young  and  poetic  as 
M.  de  Rubempre." 

"You  are  late,"  said  Clotilde,  smiling  at  Lucien 
with  tender  interest. 

"  Yes,  I  dined  out."  , 

"  You  have  been  going  into  society  a  great  deal 
of  late,"  said  she,  hiding  her  jealousy  and  uneasi- 
ness beneath  a  smile. 

"In  society?"  replied  Lucien.  "No,  simply  by 
the  merest  chance,  I  have  been  dining  all  the  week 
with  various  bankers;  to-day  with  Nucingen,  yes- 
terday with  du  Tillet,  and  the  day  before  at  the 
Kellers." 

Lucien  had  evidently  learned  the  polished  insolence 
of  men  of  rank. 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  135 

"You  have  many  enemies,"  said  Clotilde  as  she 
handed  him  (and  with  what  grace!)  a  cup  of  tea. 
"  They  have  been  telling  my  father  that  you  are  so 
fortunate  as  to  have  sixty  thousand  francs  of  debts 
and  that  in  time  to  come  you  will  have  Sainte  Pela- 
gie  for  a  country  house.  And  if  you  knew  what 
all  these  calumnies  mean  to  me — It  all  comes  home 
to  me — It  is  not  of  my  own  sufferings  that  I  speak, 
though  my  father's  looks  cut  me  to  the  quick,  but 
of  what  you  must  suffer  if  any  of  this  turn  out  to  be 
true." 

"  Do  not  be  troubled  by  all  this  absurdity.  Love 
me  as  I  love  you  and  give  me  credit  for  a  few 
months,"  answered  Lucien,  as  he  laid  his  empty 
cup  upon  the  chased  silver  tray. 

"  Don't  go  near  my  father.  He  might  make  some 
rude  remark  and  as  you  would  never  suffer  it  to 
pass,  we  should  be  lost.  That  wicked  Marquise 
d'Espard  has  told  him  that  your  mother  was  a 
monthly  nurse  and  that  your  sister  has  been  a 
sempstress." 

"We  have  been  in  the  depths  of  poverty," 
answered  Lucien,  whose  eyes  shone  with  tears. 
*'  This  is  worse  than  calumny,  it  is  pure  falsehood. 
To-day  my  sister  has  more  than  a  million,  and  my 
mother  has  been  dead  for  two  years.  They  have 
kept  this  information  for  the  time  when  I  am  on  the 
point  of  succeeding  here." 

"But  what  did  you  tell  Madame  d'Espard?" 

"  I  was  imprudent  enough  to  tell  as  a  joke  in  the 
presence  of  M.  de  Bauvan  and  M.  de  Granville,  in 


136  SPLENDOR     AND  MISERIES 

Madame  de  Serizy's  parlor,  the  story  of  the  suit 
which  she  brought  for  separation  from  her  husband 
the  Marquis  d'Espard.  Bianchon  had  told  me  about 
it.  M.  de  Granville's  opinion  supported  by  Bauvan 
and  Serizy  had  made  the  keeper  of  the  seals  alter 
his  conclusions.  Both  of  them  recoiled  before  the 
Gazette  des  Tribunaux  and  the  scandal,  so  the 
grounds  for  the  verdict  which  put  an  end  to  the  de- 
testable affair  were  very  unflattering  to  the  marquise. 
If  M.  de  Serizy  has  been  indiscreet  and  has  made 
the  marquise  my  mortal  enemy,  I  have  at  least  won 
his  protection,  that  of  the  attorney-general,  and 
especially  of  Count  Octave  de  Bauvan,  whom 
Madame  de  Serizy  told  of  the  dangerous  position  in 
which  they  had  placed  me  by  leaving  me  to  guess 
the  source  of  their  information.  The  Marquis 
d'Espard  was  dolt  enough  to  make  me  a  visit  think- 
ing that  I  was  the  cause  of  the  decision  of  the  odious 
lawsuit." 

"I  am  going  to  deliver  you  from  Madame 
d'Espard,"  said  Clotilde. 

"How?"  cried  Lucien. 

"  My  mother  shall  invite  the  d'Espard  children. 
They  are  charming  and  nearly  grown  up.  The 
father  and  his  two  sons  will  sing  your  praises  here, 
and  we  can  be  very  certain  never  to  see  their 
mother  again." 

"  O  Clotilde,  you  are  perfect.  If  I  did  not  love 
you  for  yourself,  I  should  love  you  for  your  wit." 

"  It  is  not  wit,"  she  said,  and  all  her  love  showed 
about  her  lips.  "  Good-bye.  Let  several  days  pass 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  137 

before  you  come  again.  When  you  see  me  at 
Saint  Thomas  Aquinas,  with  a  pink  scarf  you  will 
know  that  my  father's  humor  has  changed.  You 
have  an  answer  glued  to  the  back  of  the  chair  on 
which  you  sit;  it  will  console  you,  perhaps.  Put 
the  letter  you  have  brought  me  into  my  handker- 
chief." 

This  young  woman  was  evidently  older  than 
twenty-seven.  Lucien  took  a  cab  at  the  Rue  de  la 
Planche,  left  it  on  the  boulevard,  took  another  at 
the  Madeleine  and  ordered  the  driver  to  stop  in  the 
Rue  Taitbout. 


As  Lucien  entered  Esther's  room,  at  eleven 
o'clock,  he  found  her  in  tears  but  attired  to  do  him 
honor.  She  was  awaiting  her  Lucien,  reclining  upon 
a  divan  of  white  satin  embroidered  with  golden 
flowers,  dressed  in  a  fascinating  dressing-gown 
of  India  muslin,  caught  up  here  and  there  with 
bunches  of  cherry-colored  ribbon.  She  wore  no 
stays,  her  hair  was  loosely  coiled  about  the  back  of 
her  head,  and  her  feet  were  encased  in  pretty  velvet 
slippers  trimmed  with  cherry  satin.  Every  candle 
was  lighted  and  the  hookah  ready,  but  she  had  not 
smoked  her  own,  which  lay  before  her  unlit  as  if  to 
mark  her  state  of  mind.  As  she  heard  the  doors 
open,  she  dried  her  tears,  and  bounding  from  her 
couch  like  a  gazelle,  clasped  Lucien  in  her  arms  as 
a  floating  bit  of  gauze,  blown  by  the  wind,  twines 
itself  about  a  tree. 

"  Parted,"  she  cried.    "  Is  it  true?" 

"  Pooh,  only  for  a  day  or  two,"  answered  Lucien. 

Esther  loosened  her  hold  of  Lucien,  and  fell 
back  half-fainting  on  the  sofa.  In  situations  like 
this,  most  women  babble  like  parrots!  Ah!  how 
they  love  you!  After  five  years  their  feelings  are 
the  same  as  on  the  first  morrow  of  their  happiness. 
They  cannot  leave  you;  they  are  superb  in  their 
indignation,  despair,  love,  anger,  remorse,  terror, 


140  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

sorrow,  foreboding!  In  a  word,  they  are  sublime  as 
a  scene  from  Shakespeare.  But,  count  upon  it! 
Such  women  do  not  love.  When  they  are  all  that 
they  say  they  are,  when  they  love  truly,  they  do  as 
Esther  did,  as  children  do,  as  true  love  does.  Esther 
did  not  say  a  word;  she  buried  her  face  in  the  cush- 
ions and  wept  burning  tears.  Lucien  forced  himself 
to  raise  her.  Then  he  spoke  to  her. 

"  But,  child,  we  are  not  parted.  What !  after 
nearly  four  years  of  happiness,  is  this  the  way  you 
take  a  short  absence  ?  What  is  it  that  I  have  done 
to  all  these  women  ? "  he  added  to  himself  as  he  re- 
membered how  Coralie,  too,  had  loved  him  thus. 

"Ah,  sir,  you  are  very  handsome!"  said  Europe. 

The  senses  have  their  ideal  of  what  is  perfect. 
When  to  such  alluring  beauty  the  sweetness  of  dispo- 
sition and  the  poetic  charm  which  distinguished  Lucien 
are  added,  we  can  imagine  the  intense  passion  of  beings 
who  are  so  peculiarly  sensitive  to  natural  gifts  and 
so  ingenuous  in  their  admiration.  Esther  sobbed 
softly,  and  her  attitude  betrayed  her  deep  grief. 

"But,  dear  heart,"  said  Lucien,  "were  you  not 
told  that  my  life  was  at  stake?" 

'As  Lucien  spoke  these  words,  Esther  sprang  up 
like  a  wild  beast;  her  hair,  uncoiled,  clustered  about 
her  splendid  face  like  the  leaves  of  a  tree.  She 
looked  fixedly  at  Lucien.  . 

"Your  life!"  she  cried,  raising  her  arms  and  let- 
ting them  fall  with  a  gesture  peculiar  to  women 
when  they  are  in  danger.  "  But  it  is  true  that 
brute  has  written  of  something  serious." 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  141 

She  drew  a  soiled  paper  from  her  belt,  but  seeing 
Europe,  she  said  to  her: 

"Leave  us,  please." 

When  Europe  had  closed  the  door: 

"See,  this  is  what  he  wrote  me,"  she  added, 
handing  Lucien  a  letter  that  Carlos  had  sent  her. 
Lucien  read  it  aloud. 

"  You  will  leave  to-morrow  at  five  in  the  morning; 
they  will  take  you  to  a  keeper's  lodge  deep  in  the 
forest  of  Saint  Germain,  where  you  will  have  a  room 
on  the  first  floor.  Do  not  stir  from  this  room  until  I 
permit  you.  You  shall  want  for  nothing.  The 
keeper  and  his  wife  are  trustworthy.  Do  not  write 
to  Lucien.  Do  not  show  yourself  at  the  window 
during  the  day;  but  you  may  walk  at  night  under 
the  keeper's  care  if  you  wish  to  get  the  air.  Keep 
the  curtains  pulled  down  on  the  way  thither. 
Lucien 's  life  is  at  stake. 

"  Lucien  will  come  to-night  to  bid  you  good-bye. 
Burn  this  before  him." 

Lucien  burned  the  note  instantly  in  the  flame  of 
a  candle. 

"  Listen,  my  Lucien,"  said  Esther,  when  she  had 
listened  to  the  note  as  a  criminal  listens  to  the  sen- 
tence of  death  that  is  pronounced  upon  him.  "I 
shall  not  tell  you  that  I  love  you,  that  would  be 
silly.  It  is  almost  five  years  since  it  has  seemed 
as  natural  to  me  to  love  you  as  to  breathe — to 
live.  The  first  day  my  happiness  began,  under 


142  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

the  protection  of  the  extraordinary  man  who  has 
kept  me  here  as  men  keep  a  little  strange  animal  in 
a  cage,  I  learned  that  you  must  marry.  Marriage 
is  a  necessary  element  in  your  destiny,  and  God 
forbid  that  I  should  block  the  path  of  your  success. 
Your  marriage  will  be  my  death.  But  I  shall  not 
trouble  you;  I  shall  not  act  like  a  grisette  and  kill 
myself  with  a  pan  of  charcoal.  I  have  tried  it  once, 
and  that  is  enough.  Twice  would  be  nauseating,  as 
Mariette  says.  I  shall  go  very  far  away,  out  of 
France.  Asia  knows  the  secrets  of  her  country. 
She  has  promised  to  teach  me  how  to  die  easily. 
You  prick  yourself;  all  is  over  in  an  instant.  I  ask 
but  one  thing,  my  angel  of  heaven,  and  that  is  that 
I  may  not  be  deceived.  I  have  lived  my  life;  since 
the  day  I  saw  you,  in  1824,  until  to-day  I  have  had 
more  happiness  than  falls  to  the  lot  of  ten  happy 
women.  So  take  me  for  what  I  am,  a  woman 
strong  in  her  weakness.  Tell  me  that  you  are 
going  to  marry  and  I  shall  only  ask  you  to  say 
good-bye  very  tenderly,  and  then  you  shall  never 
hear  of  me  again." 

There  was  a  moment's  pause  after  this  declara- 
tion. Its  sincerity  could  be  matched  only  by  the 
simplicity  of  the  gestures  and  the  accent. 

"Is  it  on  account  of  your  marriage?"  said  she, 
directing  one  of  her  fascinating  glances,  bright  as 
a  dagger  blade,  into  Lucien's  blue  eyes. 

"  We  have  been  working  for  my  marriage  for 
eighteen  months,  and  it  is  not  decided  yet," 
answered  Lucien.  "  I  know  not  when  it  will  be 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  143 

decided,  but  this  command  has  nothing  to  do  with 
that,  my  darling  girl.  It  relates  to  the  priest  and 
to  me  and  to  you.  We  are  threatened  dangerously. 
Nucingen  has  seen  you." 

"  Yes,"  said  she.  "At  Vincennes;  then  he  recog- 
nized me?" 

"No,"  answered  Lucien,  "but  he  loves  you  as 
he  loves  his  bank-book.  After  dinner,  when  he  had 
described  you  and  told  of  your  meeting,  I  smiled  in- 
voluntarily, like  a  fool;  for  in  society  I  am  beset  by 
as  many  pitfalls  as  a  savage  in  the  midst  of  a  hostile 
tribe.  Carlos,  who  saves  me  the  trouble  of  thinking, 
believes  the  situation  dangerous.  He  has  under- 
taken to  checkmate  Nucingen  if  Nucingen  attempts 
to  set  detectives  upon  us,  and  he  is  capable  of  doing 
so,  for  he  spoke  to  me  of  the  impotence  of  the  police. 
You  have  lighted  a  fire  in  an  old  soot-filled  chimney." 

"And  what  is  your  Spaniard  going  to  do?"  asked 
Esther  very  quietly. 

"  I  know  nothing  further.  He  warned  me  to  sleep 
with  one  eye  open,"  answered  Lucien,  without  dar- 
ing to  look  into  Esther's  face. 

"  If  this  is  the  truth,  I  obey  with  the  dog's  sub- 
mission that  I  profess,"  said  Esther,  slipping  her 
arm  beneath  Lucien's  and  drawing  him  into  her 
room.  "  Did  you  have  a  good  dinner,  dear  Lucien, 
at  that  wicked  Nucingen's?" 

"Asia's  cookery  spoils  another  dinner,  however 
famous  the  cook  of  the  house  where  I  dine.  But 
Care"me  furnished  the  dinner  as  he  does  there  every 
Sunday." 


144  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

Lucien  was  involuntarily  comparing  Esther  with 
Clotilde.  His  mistress  was  so  beautiful,  and  her 
charm  so  undying,  that  she  had  as  yet  kept  away 
that  monster  which  devours  the  strongest  love, 
satiety. 

"How  hard  it  is,'*  thought  he,  "that  I  should 
find  a  wife  in  two  volumes.  In  one  poetry,  pleasure, 
love,  devotion,  beauty,  attraction — " 

Esther  was  restless,  as  women  are  before  they  go 
to  bed.  She  walked  up  and  down,  flitted  here  and 
there  singing.  She  was  like  a  humming  bird. 

"  In  the  other,  nobility,  name,  race,  honor,  rank, 
knowledge  of  society!  And  yet  there  is  no  way  of 
uniting  them  in  a  single  person,"  said  he  to  himself. 

At  seven  o'clock  on  the  morrow,  when  he  awoke 
in  this  charming  room  of  pink  and  white,  the  poet 
found  himself  alone.  He  rang  the  bell  and  the  fan- 
tastic Europe  appeared. 

"What  do  you  wish,  sir?" 

"  Esther." 

"She  left  at  a  quarter  before  five.  By  the 
father's  orders  I  let  in  a  stranger  and  asked  no 
questions." 

"A  woman?" 

"  No,  sir,  an  English  lady — one  of  those  women 
who  do  their  work  at  night,  and  we  have  orders 
to  treat  her  as  if  she  were  our  mistress:  what  can 
you  want  of  that  scare-crow?  Poor  lady,  how  she 
wept  as  she  got  into  the  carriage!  '  There's  no 
other  way,'  she  cried;  'I  left  him,  poor  darling, 
while  he  slept,'  she  said  to  me  as  she  wiped  her 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  145 

tears:  '  Europe,  if  he  had  looked  at  me  or  spoken 
my  name  I  should  have  staid  there,  content  to  die 
with  him.'  Do  you  know,  sir,  I  was  so  fond  of  her 
that  I  did  not  point  out  her  successor  to  her.  There's 
many  a  waiting-maid  who  would  have  broken  her 
heart  in  such  a  case." 

"  Then  the  stranger  is  here  then?" 

"She  came  in  the  carriage  which  took  away 
Madame  Esther,  sir,  and  I  hid  her,  in  my  room  as  I 
was  bid." 

"Is  she  satisfactory?" 

"As  satisfactory  as  a  second-hand  woman  could 
be.  But  she  will  find  no  difficulty  in  playing  her 
part  if  you  are  careful  about  yours,  sir,"  said  Europe, 
as  she  went  in  search  of  the  false  Esther. 

On  the  previous  evening  before  going  to  bed, 
the  all-powerful  banker  had  given  his  orders  to  his 
valet,  and  by  seven  o'clock  the  servants  ushered 
the  famous  Louchard,  the  keenest  of  detectives,  into 
a  small  parlor  where  the  baron,  in  dressing-gown 
and  slippers,  met  him. 

"You  haf  peen  making  game  of  me,"  said  he  in 
answer  to  the  officer's  salutations. 

"  I  could  not  do  otherwise  than  I  have  done,  sir. 
I  keep  within  my  own  province,  and  I  had  the  honor 
of  informing  you  that  I  could  not  mix  myself  up  in 
any  affair  foreign  to  my  duties.  What  did  I  promise 
you?  To  put  you  in  communication  with  the  man 
among  my  agents  who  seemed  to  me  best  qualified 
to  assist  you.  But  you  must  be  familiar  with  the 


146  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

barriers  that  exist  between  people  of  different 
trades.  When  you  build  a  house  you  do  not  make 
a  joiner  do  a  locksmith's  work.  Just  so  there  are 
two  kinds  of  police — the  political  police  and  the  de- 
tective police.  The  agents  of  the  detective  police 
never  undertake  any  work  of  the  political  police  and 
vice  versa.  If  you  were  to  address  yourself  to  the 
chief  of  the  political  police  you  would  need  a  permit 
from  the  minister  to  make  use  of  him  for  your  busi- 
ness, and  you  would  never  dare  to  explain  what  it  is 
to  the  director  general  of  the  police  of  the  kingdom. 
Any  agent  who  should  turn  a  penny  on  his  own 
account  would  lose  his  place.  And  the  detective 
police  is  just  as  circumspect  as  the  political  police. 
Thus  nobody  at  the  Ministry  of  the  Interior,  or  at  the 
Prefecture  stirs  a  foot  except  in  the  interest  of  the 
State  or  in  the  interest  of  justice.  If  there's  a  plot 
or  a  crime  in  the  case,  why,  heavens  and  earth, 
the  chiefs  are  at  your  disposal,  but  you  see,  baron, 
that  they  have  other  tunes  to  whistle  beside  busying 
themselves  with  the  fifty  thousand  intrigues  that  go 
on  in  Paris.  As  for  the  rest  of  us,  we  ought  to  at- 
tend merely  to  the  arrest  of  debtors;  and  if  we  ever 
go  beyond  this  we  run  enormous  risk  in  case  we 
disturb  anybody's  peace.  I  sent  you  one  of  my 
men,  but  at  the  same  time  I  told  you  that  I  could 
not  answer  for  him.  You  asked  him  to  find  you  a 
woman  in  Paris;  Contenson  has  done  you  out  of  a 
note  of  a  thousand  without  stirring  a  finger.  You 
might  as  well  look  for  a  needle  in  a  haystack  as  to 
hunt  through  Paris  for  a  woman  supposed  to  have 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  147 

gone  to  the  wood  of  Vincennes,  and  whose  descrip- 
tion corresponds  to  that  of  every  pretty  woman  in 
Paris." 

"  Gould  not  Gondanzon"  (Contenson),  said  the 
baron,  "  haf  dold  me  ze  druth  inzteat  of  ropping  me 
of  a  note  for  a  tausent  francs?" 

"Listen,  sir,"  said  Louchard,  "will you  give  me 
a  thousand  crowns?  I  am  going  to  give  you — sell 
you  a  bit  of  advice." 

"Ant  does  atvice  gost  ein  tausent  growns?"  de- 
manded Nucingen. 

"I  am  never  caught  napping,  sir,"  answered 
Louchard.  "You  are  in  love;  you  wish  to  discover 
the  object  of  your  passion.  You  are  shrivelling  up 
like  a  cabbage  without  water.  Your  valet  told  me 
that  two  doctors  came  here  yesterday  and  thought 
your  life  in  danger.  I,  alone,  can  put  you  in  the 
hands  of  a  clever  man.  And  if  your  life  isn't 
worth  a  thousand  crowns  what  the  devil  is  it 
worth?" 

"  Dell  me  ze  name  of  dis  glever  man,  and  gount 
on  my  chenerosidy." 

Louchard  took  his  hat,  bowed,  and  walked  away. 

"Ze  tefil  of  a  man,"  cried  Nucingen,  "gome, 
dake  ze  money." 

"  You  understand,"  said  Louchard,  before  taking 
the  money,  "  that  I  am  selling  you  purely  and  simply 
a  suggestion.  I  shall  give  you  the  name  and  address 
of  the  one  man  who  can  be  of  assistance  to  you; 
but  he  is  a  master." 

"Go  do  ze  tefil,"  cried  Nucingen,  "dere  is  no 


148  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

name  but  Varschild  vich  is  vort  ein  tausent  growns 
ant  only  venn  it  is  zigned  at  ze  foot  of  a  note.  I 
offer  ein  tausent  francs." 

Louchard,  petty  sharper,  who  had  never  been  able 
to  secure  a  position  as  solicitor,  notary,  bailiff  or 
attorney,  leered  at  the  baron  significantly. 

"  For  you  it  is  a  thousand  crowns  or  nothing. 
You  can  get  them  again  in  a  few  seconds  at  the  ex- 
change," he  said. 

"  I  offer  ein  tausent  francs,"  reiterated  the  baron. 

"You  would  dispute  the  price  of  a  gold  mine!" 
said  Louchard,  as  he  bowed  and  withdrew. 

"  I  zhall  haf  ze  attress  for  ein  note  of  five  huntret 
francs,"  the  baron  cried  out  as  he  bade  his  valet 
send  in  his  secretary. 

Turcaret  exists  no  longer.  To-day  the  greatest, 
as  well  as  the  most  petty,  banker  employs  all  his 
sagacity  in  the  smallest  matters:  he  haggles  over 
art,  generosity,  love;  he  would  haggle  with  the  pope 
over  an  absolution.  Thus  as  he  listened  to  Lou- 
chard, Nucingen  had  rapidly  calculated  that  since 
Contenson  was  the  right  hand  of  the  detective,  he 
must  know  the  address  of  the  master  spy  he  de- 
sired. Contenson  would  let  go  for  five  hundred 
francs  what  Louchard  wished  to  sell  for  a  thousand 
crowns.  This  rapid  decision  proved  conclusively 
that  though  the  man's  heart  were  a  prisoner  to  love, 
the  old  lynx  had  not  lost  his  head. 

"Goyourzelf,  zir,"  said  the  baron  to  his  secre- 
tary, "to  ze  house  of  Gondanzon,  ze  spy  of  Lichard 
ze  dedectif.  Gall  a  gab,  go  guickly  ant  pring  him 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  149 

at  vonce.  I  vait  for  you.  You  vill  go  by  ze  garden 
toor.  Here  is  ze  key,  vor  it  is  pest  zat  no  one 
zould  zee  ze  man  at  my  house.  You  vill  indroduce 
him  into  ze  leetle  garten  pafillion.  Dry  to  exegute 
my  gommission  mit  indelligence." 

People  came  to  talk  business  with  Nucingen:  still 
he  waited  for  Contenson,  and  dreamed  of  Esther;  he 
said  to  himself  that  before  many  days  had  passed  he 
should  see  the  woman  to  whom  he  owed  emotions 
he  had  never  thought  possible;  and  he  dismissed 
everybody  with  vague  words,  and  promises  of 
double  meaning.  Contenson  seemed  to  him  the 
most  important  being  in  Paris;  every  moment  he 
looked  out  into  his  garden.  At  length,  after  he  had 
given  orders  for  his  door  to  be  kept  shut,  he  had  his 
breakfast  served  in  the  pavilion  which  stood  in  one 
corner  of  the  garden. 


In  business  circles  the  strange  behavior  and  the 
hesitation  of  the  keenest,  craftiest,  most  politic  of 
Paris  bankers  appeared  inexplicable. 

"What  is  the  matter  with  the  boss?"  asked  a 
stockbroker  of  one  of  the  head  clerks. 

"  Nobody  knows.  Apparently  they  are  anxious 
about  his  health;  yesterday  his  wife  had  a  consulta- 
tion with  Doctors  Desplein  and  Bianchon." 

One  day  that  some  strangers  came  to  see  Newton, 
he  was  occupied  in  physicking  one  of  his  dogs  named 
Beauty.  This  Beauty,  a  female,  had  destroyed,  as 
everybody  knows,  an  immense  work,  and  Newton 
had  said  to  her:  "Ah,  Beauty,  you  know  not  what 
you  have  ruined."  The  strangers  respected  the 
great  man's  employment  and  went  away.  In  every 
famous  life  there  is  a  little  dog  Beauty.  When  the 
Mar£chal  de  Richelieu  came  to  pay  his  respects  to 
Louis  XV.  after  the  capture  of  Mahon,  one  of  the 
greatest  exploits  of  the  eighteenth  century,  the  king 
said  to  him:  "You  know  the  great  news.  Poor 
Lansmatt  is  dead!"  Lansmatt  was  a  door-keeper 
who  happened  to  be  privy  to  the  monarch's  intrigues. 
The  bankers  of  Paris  never  knew  the  obligations 
they  owed  to  Contenson,  for  the  detective  was  the 
reason  of  Nucingen's  abandoning  to  them  a  vast 
(151) 


I  $2  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

enterprise,  in  which  he  had  already  embarked. 
Every  day  the  lynx  could  aim  at  a  fortune  with  the 
artillery  of,  speculation  whereas  the  man  was  at  the 
orders  of  pleasure. 

The  famous  banker  was  sipping  his  tea  and 
nibbling  a  few  slices  of  bread  and  butter  with  the 
deliberation  of  a  man  whose  teeth  had  been  long 
unwhetted  by  appetite,  when  he  heard  a  carriage  pull 
up  before  the  little  gate  of  his  garden.  In  a  moment 
Nucingen's  secretary  presented  Contenson,  whom 
he  had  found  at  length  in  a  cafe  near  Sainte-Pelagie, 
where  the  agent  was  breakfasting  on  the  fee  given 
him  by  an  imprisoned  debtor,  who  had  met  with  the 
consideration  that  expects  payment.  Contenson, 
you  notice,  was  a  true  poem,  a  Parisian  poem.  From 
his  appearance,  at  first  sight  you  would  have  thought 
that  Beaumarchais'  Figaro,  Moliere'sMascarille,  Mari- 
vaux's  Frontin  and  Dancourt's  Lafleur,  those  great 
personifications  of  daring  knavery,  of  ruse  at  bay, 
of  stratagem  rising  ever  anew  from  the  ashes  of  its 
failure,  were  commonplace  in  comparison  with  this 
colossus  of  craft  and  degradation.  In  Paris  a  type  is 
no  longer  a  man,  but  a  spectacle,  and  represents  no 
longer  a  single  moment  of  life,  but  a  life-time — many 
life-times.  Bake  thrice  in  an  oven  a  bust  of  plaster; 
it  will  become  a  sort  of  base  imitation  of  Florentine 
bronze.  Just  so  the  fires  of  countless  misfortunes, 
the  necessities  of  awful  situations,  had  bronzed 
Contenson 's  head  as  if  the  heat  of  an  ',oven  had 
thrice  dried  the  sweat  upon  his  visage.  The  deep 
wrinkles  could  never  again  grow  smooth;  they 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  153 

formed  life-long  folds  with  whitened  furrows.  His 
yellow  face  was  all  wrinkles.  The  skull,  shaped 
like  Voltaire's,  *vas  rigid  as  a  death's-head,  and  had 
it  not  been  for  a  few  wisps  of  hair  behind,  it  would 
scarcely  have  looked  human.  Beneath  an  imper- 
turbable brow  his  Chinese  eyes  were  set  with  ex- 
pressionless gaze,  eyes  such  as  those  displayed  in 
the  window  of  a  tea-shop;  unreal  eyes  simulating 
life,  but  the  look  of  which  never  alters.  The  nose 
flat,  as  that  of  death's-head,  set  destiny  at  defiance, 
and  the  mouth,  pinched  like  a  miser's,  was  always 
open,  though  it  remained  discreet  as  the  slit  of  a 
letter-box.  Calm  as  a  savage,  his  hands  tanned  by 
the  sun,  Contenson,  little,  wizened  and  thin,  as  he 
was,  still  possessed  the  careless  attitude  of  a  Dio- 
genes, who  never  bends  in  protestations  of  respect. 
And  what  commentaries  on  his  life  and  character 
were  written  in  his  dress  for  those  who  can  read 
what  dress  means?  First  of  all,  what  trousers! 
Typical  bailiff's  trousers,  black  and  shiny  as  the 
stuff  known  as  "voile,"  of  which  they  make  law- 
yers' gowns;  a  waistcoat  of  embroidered  camel's- 
hair  bought  at  the  Temple;  a  coat  of  rusty  black; 
the  whole  costume  brushed  till  it  was  almost  clean, 
and  adorned  by  a  gold-plated  watch-chain.  Con- 
tenson exposed  to  view  a  plaited  shirt  of  yellow 
cambric  which  formed  a  background  for  a  false  dia- 
mond pin.  His  velvet  collar  looked  as  if  it  were 
made  of  iron,  and  over  it  protruded  folds  of  deep 
red  flesh.  His  silk  hat  shone  like  satin,  but  the 
lining  could  have  furnished  enough  grease  to  make 


154  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

two  tallow  candles,  had  some  grocer  bought  it  and 
boiled  it  down.  This  is  but  to  catalogue  the  acces- 
sories, and  it  would  be  more  to  the  purpose  to  paint 
the  exorbitant  pretension  that  Contenson  was  able 
to  impart  to  them.  There  was  a  jaunty  air  about 
the  coat  collar  and  in  the  fresh  polish  of  the  boots 
with  cracked  soles  to  which  no  French  expression 
can  do  justice.  And  to  reconcile  a  mixture  of  such 
diverse  articles  of  apparel  a  clever  man  would  have 
gathered  from  Contenson 's  appearance  that  had  he 
been  a  criminal  and  not  an  informer,  his  threadbare 
clothes  would  no  longer  have  brought  a  smile  to  the 
lips  of  a  beholder,  but  would  have  made  him  thrill 
with  horror.  Judging  from  his  costume  an  observer 
would  have  said,  "He  is  a  villain,  he  drinks,  he 
gambles,  he  has  vices;  but  he  does  not  get  drunk, 
he  does  not  cheat,  he  is  neither  a  thief  nor  a  mur- 
derer." And  certainly  Contenson  was  indefinable 
until  the  word  "  spy  "  came  to  mind.  This  man 
had  worked  at  as  many  unknown  trades  as  there 
are  trades  which  are  known.  The  subtle  smile  of 
his  pale  lips,  the  restlessness  of  his  pale  green  eyes, 
the  slightly  comic  turn  of  his  flat  nose  showed  that 
he  did  not  want  for  wit.  He  had  a  face  of  tin  and 
the  soul  within  was  like  the  face.  The  movements 
of  his  features  were  rather  grimaces  conceded  to 
civility  than  the  expression  of  inner  feelings.  Had 
he  been  less  ludicrous,  he  would  have  been  terrify- 
ing. Contenson,  one  of  the  most  curious  products 
of  the  scum  which  floats  in  the  seething  caldron  of 
Paris,  where  everything  is  in  ferment,  prided  himself 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  155 

above  all  on  being  a  philosopher.  He  said  without 
bitterness: 

"  I  have  great  talents;  but  they  count  for  nothing. 
I  might  as  well  be  an  idiot." 

And  he  condemned  himself,  instead  of  accusing 
men.  Try  to  find  many  spies  who  have  not  more 
rancor  than  Contenson! 

"  Circumstances  are  against  us,"  he  would  say  to 
his  superiors;  "  we  might  be  crystals,  but  we  are 
grains  of  sand,  nothing  more." 

His  cynicism  of  dress  had  a  purpose;  he  cared  no 
more  for  his  city  dress  than  an  actor  cares  for  his 
costume;  he  excelled  in  disguises  and  transforma- 
tions; he  might  have  given  lessons  to  Frederick 
Le  Maitre  for  he  could  turn  fop  when  it  served  his 
turn.  Long  ago  in  his  youth  he  had  been  brought 
up  among  an  ill-conditioned  set  of  small  trades- 
people. 

He  displayed  a  deep  antipathy  to  the  detec- 
tive police,  for,  under  the  Empire,  he  had  been  in 
Fouche's  employ,  and  he  looked  upon  his  former 
master  as  a  great  man.  Since  the  suppression  of 
the  ministry  of  police,  for  want  of  better  employ- 
ment, he  enlisted  as  a  detective  for  business  arrests, 
but  his  well-known  capacity  and  sharpness  made 
him  a  valued  tool,  and  the  secret  chiefs  of  the  politi- 
cal police  had  kept  his  name  on  their  lists.  Con- 
tenson, as  well  as  his  mates,  was  only  among  the 
chorus  of  a  drama,  while  the  greater  parts  were 
played  by  their  chiefs  whenever  there  was  political 
business  afoot. 


156  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

"Go  avay,"  said  Nucingen,  dismissing  his  secre- 
tary with  a  wave  of  his  hand. 

"  Why  is  it  that  this  man  lives  in  a  fine  house 
and  I  in  a  tenement  ?"  said  Contenson  to  him- 
self. "He  has  tricked  his  creditors  three  times; 
he  has  stolen ;  I  have  never  taken  a  penny 
that  didn't  belong  to  me,  and  I  am  cleverer  than 
he." 

"  Gondanzon,  mein  frient,"  said  the  baron,  "you 
haf  tone  me  out  of  ein  tausent  franc  note." 

"  My  mistress  owed  everybody  and  the  devil  to 
boot." 

"You  haf  ein  misdress?"  cried  Nucingen,  look- 
ing at  Contenson  with  admiration  mixed  with  envy. 

"I  am  only  sixty-six,"  answered  Contenson, 
with  the  manner  of  a  man  whom  vice  had  kept 
young  as  a  fatal  example. 

"Ant  vat  toes  she  to?" 

"She  helps  me,"  replied  Contenson;  "when  a 
thief  is  loved  by  an  honest  woman,  either  she  be- 
comes a  thief  or  he  an  honest  man.  For  my  part, 
I  am  still  a  detective." 

"You  still  haf  need  of  money?" 

"  Still,"  returned  Contenson,  smiling,  "  my  natu- 
ral condition  is  to  want  it  as  yours  is  to  gain  it;  we 
can  come  to  an  understanding:  you  bring  it  to  me 
and  I  will  look  after  the  spending.  You  will  be  the 
well  and  I  the  bucket." 

"  To  you  care  to  earn  ein  note  of  fife  huntret 
vrancs?" 

"That's  a  natural  question!    Do  you  think  I'm 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  157 

a  fool?  Do  you  offer  it  to  help  to  repair  Fortune's 
injustice  toward  me?" 

"  Py  no  means;  I  att  it  to  ze  fife  huntret  vrancs 
zat  you  haf  taken;  zat  makes  veefteen  huntret 
vrancs  zat  I  gif  you  altogether." 

"So  you  give  me  the  thousand  francs  I  have 
already  and  you  add  five  hundred  francs  more." 

"Zat  is  gorrect!"  said  Nucingen,  nodding  his 
head. 

"That  only  makes  five  hundred  francs,"  re- 
marked Contenson  imperturbably. 

"  To  give!"  replied  the  baron. 

"To  take;  well,  what  would  M.  le  Baron  buy 
with  this?" 

"  I  haf  heard  zat  zere  was  in  Baris  ein  man  caba- 
ple  of  discofering  ze  vooman  I  luf  ant  zat  you  know 
his  attress.  Ein  masder  of  sbying." 

"It  is  true." 

"  Very  veil ;  gif  me  ze  attress  ant  you  haf  ze 
fife  huntret  vrancs." 

"  Where  are  they?"  answered  Contenson  quickly. 

"Here,"  ejaculated  the  baron,  drawing  a  bank- 
note from  his  pocket. 

"All  right,  give  them  to  me,"  said  Contenson, 
stretching  out  his  hand. 

"  Vait  a  pit.  Let  us  go  to  see  ze  man  ant  you 
shall  haf  ze  money,  vor  you  might  zell  me  blenty 
of  attresses  ad  zat  brice." 

Contenson  began  to  laugh. 

"  I  suppose  that  you  have  the  right  to  think  it  of 
me,"  he  said  with  an  air  of  self-reproof,  "the lower 


158  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

our  fortunes  sink  the  greater  need  for  honesty.  But, 
look  you,  baron;  make  it  six  hundred  francs  and  I 
will  give  you  good  advice." 

"  Gif  it,  and  debend  on  my  chenerosidy." 

"I  take  the  risk,"  said  Contenson,  "but  I  am 
playing  high.  In  my  line  of  business,  you  know, 
we  move  underground.  You  say:  '  Forward, 
march!'  You  are  rich  and  you  believe  that  every- 
thing yields  to  money.  Money  counts  for  some- 
thing, it  is  true.  But  with  money,  as  the  two  or 
three  able  men  of  my  profession  always  say,  you 
can  do  no  more  than  buy  men.  And  there  are 
other  things  that  a  man  does  not  think  of  which 
cannot  be  bought;  He  cannot  keep  chance  in  his 
pay.  Besides  a  clever  detective  doesn't  go  to  work 
in  that  way.  Will  you  get  into  a  cab  with  me? 
There  is  one  outside.  Luck  is  as  apt  to  be  with 
you  as  against  you." 

"  Druly?"  said  the  baron. 

"  Lord,  yes,  sir.  It  was  a  horseshoe  picked  up  in 
the  street  that  led  the  prefect  of  the  police  to  dis- 
cover the  infernal  machine.  So  then  if  we  should 
go  in  a  cab,  this  evening  after  nightfall,  to  see  M.  de 
Saint  Germain  he  would  not  care  to  see  you  come 
into  his  house  any  more  than  you  would  care  to  be 
seen  going  there." 

"  Zat  is  drue,"  said  the  baron. 

"  Oh,  he's  the  cleverest  of  the  clever,  the  famous 
Corentin's  lieutenant,  Fouch6's  right  arm;  some  call 
him  his  natural  son  born  at  the  time  that  Fouch6 
was  a  priest;  but  it's  all  nonsense  I  suppose.  Fouch6 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  159 

made  as  good  a  priest  as  a  prefect.  But  you  will 
never  stir  that  man,  mind  you,  with  less  than  ten 
bank  notes  of  a  thousand  francs. — Remember  thit. 
— But  your  business  will  be  done  and  well  done. 
Nothing  seen  or  heard  as  they  say.  I  shall  see 
that  M.  de  Saint-Germain  is  notified  and  he  will 
assign  you  some  meeting-place  where  you  may 
be  alone  with  no  danger  of  eavesdroppers,  for 
he  runs  a  risk  in  bringing  the  police  system  to 
bear  upon  private  affairs.  But  what  can  you  expect? 
He's  a  fearless  man,  the  king  of  men,  and  a  man 
who  has  undergone  the  most  bitter  persecution  for 
having  saved  France,  like  me  and  all  the  others  who 
have  saved  her." 

"Well,  zen,  you  vill  write  me  ze  hour  zat  zhall 
make  me  habby,"  said  the  baron,  smiling  at  his 
vulgar  jest. 

"Aren't  you  going  to  grease  the  wheels,  baron?" 
asked  Contenson  with  an  accent  at  once  humble 
and  menacing. 

"Chan,"  called  the  baron  to  his  gardener,  "ged 
dwendy  vrancs  vrom  Chorches  and  pring  zem  do 
me." 

"  If  you  have  no  other  directions  than  those  you 
have  already  given,  I  am  doubtful  whether  even 
such  a  master  can  help  you,  sir." 

"I  haf  odders,"  answered  the  baron  supercil- 
iously. 

"  I  have  the  honor  of  taking  my  leave,  sir,"  said 
Contenson  as  he  pocketed  the  twenty-franc  piece; 
"  I  shall  have  the  honor  of  telling  Georges  where 


160  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

our  friend  will  be  this  evening,  for  respectable  de- 
tectives never  write." 

*'Id's  ott  how  zharp  zese  fellows  are,"  thought 
the  baron,  "  zeir  drade  is  like  pusiness." 

After  leaving  the  baron  Contenson  walked  placidly 
from  the  Rue  Saint-Lazare  to  the  Rue  Saint-Honore 
and  up  this  street  as  far  as  the  Cafe"  David.  There 
he  glanced  through  the  window  and  perceived  an 
old  man  known  throughout  the  district  under  the 
name  of  Pere  Canquoelle. 


The  Cafe  David,  situated  in  the  Rue  de  la  Monnaie, 
at  the  corner  of  the  Rue  Saint-Honore,  enjoyed 
during  the  first  thirty  years  of  this  century,  a  con- 
siderable reputation  confined  to  the  quarter  called 
"des  Bourdonnais."  It  was  the  resort  of  old  and 
retired  merchants  or  of  rich  contractors  still  in 
business,  men  like  Camusot,  Lebas,  Pillerault,  and 
Popinot;  a  few  landlords  like  little  Pere  Molineux, 
and  now  and  then  old  Pere  Guillaume  came  thither 
from  the  Rue  du  Colombier.  The  company  dis- 
cussed politics,  but  with  discretion,  for  the  spirit  of 
the  place  was  liberal.  They  chatted  over  the  gos- 
sip of  the  neighborhood,  for  men  must  laugh  at  their 
fellows. 

Like  all  cafe's  of  the  time,  the  Cafe  David  had  its 
original  character,  and  this  was  Pere  Canquoelle, 
who  had  been  in  the  habit  of  going  thither  ever 
since  1811,  and  seemed  in  such  perfect  harmony 
with  the  honest  folk  collected  about  him  that  nobody 
hesitated  to  talk  politics  in  his  presence.  Occasion- 
ally this  worthy,  whose  simplicity  was  the  laughing- 
stock of  his  friends,  disappeared  for  a  month  or  two 
at  a  time;  but  his  absences  that  were  always  attrib- 
uted to  his  age  or  infirmities  surprised  no  one,  for 
he  was  believed  to  have  passed  his  sixtieth  year  as 
long  ago  as  1811. 

ii  (161) 


162  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

"What  has  become  of  Pere  Canquoelle?"  peo- 
ple asked  of  the  bar-maid. 

"I  suspect,"  she  would  answer,  "that  some  day 
we  shall  see  his  death  in  the  Petites  Affiches." 

Pere  Canquoelle's  pronunciation  was  a  perpetual 
certificate  of  his  origin.  He  invariably  said,  "  une 
estatue,  especialle,  le  peuble,"  and  "  lure  "  for  Turk. 
His  name  was  derived  from  a  small  estate  called 
"  Les  Canquoelles  "  (a  provincial  word  for  cock- 
chafers), situated  in  the  department  of  Vaucluse,  of 
which  he  was  a  native.  People  had  come  to  address 
him  as  "Canquoelle,"  instead  of  "des  Canquo- 
elles," but  he  did  not  take  it  amiss,  as  he  felt  that 
the  nobility  had  died  in  1793.  Besides,  the  property 
of  Les  Canquoelles  did  not  belong  to  him,  for  he  was 
the  younger  son  of  a  younger  branch.  Nowadays 
Pere  Canquoelle's  costume  would  look  odd  in  the 
extreme,  but  from  1811  to  1820  it  aroused  nobody's 
surprise.  The  old  man  wore  shoes  with  steel 
buckles  cut  like  crystals,  silk  stockings  with  cir- 
cular stripes  alternately  blue  and  white,  and  silk 
breeches  with  oval  buckles  to  match  those  on  his 
shoes.  An  embroidered  white  waistcoat,  an  old  coat 
of  greenish  brown  with  brass  buttons,  and  a  shirt 
with  a  plaited  frill  completed  his  attire.  In  the 
middle  of  the  frill  glittered  a  gold  medallion,  under 
the  glass  of  which  there  was  a  tiny  temple  made  of 
hair,  one  of  those  charming  bits  of  sentiment  that 
assure  a  man  just  as  a  scare-crow  frightens  a  spar- 
row. Most  men  are  startled  and  reassured  by  noth- 
ings just  as  animals  are.  Pere  Canquoelle's  breeches 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  163 

were  supported  by  a  buckle  which,  after  the  fashion 
of  the  last  century,  held  them  tightly  in  place  above 
the  abdomen.  From  his  girdle  hung  two  parallel 
chains,  composed  of  several  steel  strands,  each  end- 
ing in  a  bunch  of  watch-charms.  His  white  cravat 
was  fastened  behind  by  means  of  a  small  gold  buckle. 
His  head,  that  was  powdered  snow-white,  was  capped 
as  late  as  1816  by  the  municipal  cocked  hat,  that 
was  also  worn  by  M.  Try,  President  of  the  Tribunal. 
This  hat,  so  dear  to  the  old  man,  Pere  Canquoelle 
had  recently  replaced  (the  worthy  gentleman  thought 
that  he  owed  the  sacrifice  to  the  time)  by  that  in- 
significant round  hat  against  which  nobody  has  dared 
to  rebel.  A  small  queue  tightly  braided  and  tied 
with  a  ribbon,  traced  on  the  back  of  his  coat  a  semi- 
circular mark,  the  grease  of  which  was  half  hidden 
by  a  fine  sprinkling  of  powder.  In  contemplating 
the  distinctive  feature  of  his  face,  a  red  nose  that  was 
covered  with  protuberances  and  fit  to  figure  in  a 
dish  of  truffles,  you  would  have  attributed  a  pliant, 
dull  and  good-natured  disposition  to  this  most  re- 
spectable old  man,  who  was  in  reality  sharp  as  a 
steel  trap,  and,  like  everybody  who  frequented  the 
Cafe  David,  you  would  have  been  duped  by  him. 
Nobody  there  had  scrutinized  the  intelligent  fore- 
head, the  sardonic  mouth  and  cold  eyes  of  this  old 
man  who  was  glutted  with  vices  and  calm  as  a 
Vitellius  whose  imperial  belly  was,  so  to  speak, 
paJingenetically  resuscitated  in  him.  In  1816  a 
young  traveling  salesman,  Gaudissart  by  name,  a 
frequenter  of  the  Cafe  David,  got  drunk  between 


164  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

eleven  o'clock  and  midnight  in  company  with  an 
officer  on  half  pay.  He  was  so  imprudent  as  to 
speak  of  a  serious  conspiracy  brewing  against 
the  Bourbons,  that  was  then  ready  to  burst.  The 
cafe  was  empty  except  for  Pere  Canquoelle,  who 
was  apparently  asleep,  two  sleeping  waiters  and  the 
bar-maid.  Within  twenty-four  hours  Gaudissart  was 
arrested,  and  the  plot  discovered.  Two  men  per- 
ished on  the  scaffold.  Neither  Gaudissart  nor  any- 
body else  ever  suspected  worthy  Pere  Canquoelle 
of  having  divulged  the  secret.  The  waiters  were 
dismissed,  every  precaution  was  adopted  for  a  year, 
and  Pere  Canquoelle  who  appeared  to  share  the 
general  fear  inspired  by  the  police,  even  spoke  of 
deserting  the  Cafe  David  altogether,  so  great  was  his 
detestation  of  the  whole  system. 

Contenson  entered  the  cafe,  ordered  a  small  glass 
of  brandy  and  never  turned  his  eyes  toward  Pere 
Canquoelle,  who  was  busily  reading  the  newspapers; 
when  he  had  swallowed  the  brandy  he  pulled  out 
the  baron's  gold  piece  and  summoned  the  waiter  by 
making  three  sharp  taps  on  the  table.  The  bar-maid 
and  the  waiter  examined  the  gold  piece  with  a  solici- 
tude that  was  scarcely  complimentary  to  Conten- 
son; but  their  distrust  was  excused  by  the  universal 
astonishment  caused  by  the  detective's  appearance. 
"  Is  the  gold  the  fruit  of  theft  or  murder?" 
Such  was  the  thought  of  several  intelligent  and 
clear-sighted  persons  who  glanced  at  Contenson 
beneath  their  spectacles  while  they  pretended  to  be 
absorbed  in  their  papers.  Contenson,  who  noticed 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  165 

everything  and  was  astonished  at  nothing,  wiped  his 
lips  disdainfully  with  a  silk  handkerchief  in  which 
there  were  not  more  than  three  darns,  received  his 
change  and  placed  all  his  coppers  in  his  fob,  the 
once  white  lining  of  which  was  now  black  as  the 
material  of  the  trousers,  not  leaving  a  single  penny 
for  the  waiter. 

"There's  a  gallows  bird,"  remarked  Pere  Can- 
quoelle to  M.  Pillerault,  his  neighbor. 

"  Pooh!"  answered  M.  Camusot,  who  alone  had 
shown  no  astonishment,  aloud  to  the  whole  cafe. 
"  It's  Contenson,  the  right  hand  of  Louchard,  our 
detective.  Perhaps  the  fools  have  some  one  to  arrest 
in  this  neighborhood." 

Fifteen  minutes  later,  the  worthy  M.  Canquoelle 
rose,  took  his  umbrella  and  went  quietly  out. 

It  is  necessary  to  explain  that  a  subtle  man  was 
hidden  beneath  the  exterior  of  Pere  Canquoelle  in  the 
same  way  that  Vautrin  was  concealed  in  the  priest 
Carlos.  This  man  was  named  Peyrade.  He  was 
born  in  the  south,  at  Canquoelles,  the  only  estate 
of  his  family,  which  had  formerly  been  highly  re- 
spectable. In  fact,  he  belonged  to  the  younger 
branch  of  the  house  of  Peyrade,  an  old  but  poor 
family  of  Comtat,  which  was  still  in  possession  of 
the  small  landed  property  of  Peyrade.  The  young- 
est of  seven  children,  he  had  come  on  foot  to  Paris, 
at  the  age  of  seventeen,  with  two  six-franc  pieces 
in  his  pocket,  in  1772,  actuated  by  the  vices  of  a 
passionate  temperament  and  by  that  brutal  desire 
for  wealth  which  attracts  so  many  Southerners  to 


166  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

the  capital  when  they  have  learned  that  the  family 
coffers  can  never  furnish  them  with  money  to  satisfy 
their  appetites.  We  shall  tell  the  story  of  Peyrade's 
youth  by  saying  that  in  1782  he  was  the  secret 
adviser  and  even  the  hero  of  the  general  lieuten- 
ancy of  the  police,  and  was  especially  esteemed  by 
M.  Lenoir  and  M.  d'Albert,  the  last  two  of  the  lieu- 
tenant generals.  The  Revolution  had  no  police;  it 
needed  none.  Espionage,  common  enough  then, 
went  by  the  name  of  citizenship.  The  Directory, 
a  slightly  more  regular  government  than  that  of  the 
Committee  of  Public  Safety,  was  obliged  to  create  a 
police,  and  the  first  consul  completed  the  system 
by  establishing  the  prefecture  of  police  and  the 
ministry  of  general  police.  Peyrade,  the  tradi- 
tional man,  organized  the  staff  in  conjunction  with 
an  associate  named  Corentin,  a  much  stronger  per- 
son than  the  Peyrade  of  that  time,  although  younger, 
and  one  whose  genius  was  confined  to  the  subter- 
ranean pathways  of  the  police  system.  In  1808 
Peyrade's  great  services  were  rewarded  by  his 
nomination  to  the  high  position  of  commissary 
general  of  the  police  at  Antwerp.  In  Napoleon's 
scheme  this  prefecture  of  police  was  equivalent  to 
the  ministry  of  police  that  was  deputed  to  take 
charge  of  Holland.  After  the  campaign  of  1809 
Peyrade  was  relieved  of  his  command  at  Antwerp 
by  order  of  the  Emperor's  cabinet,  conveyed  post 
haste  to  Paris  between  two  gendarmes  and  thrown 
into  "La  Force."  Two  months  later  he  emerged 
from  prison,  after  a  warning  from  his  friend  Corentin, 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  167 

and  after  undergoing  three  general  examina- 
tions of  six  hours  each  before  the  prefect  of  the 
police.  Did  Peyrade  owe  his  disgrace  to  the  mar- 
vellous activity  with  which  he  had  seconded  Fouche 
in  the  defence  of  the  coasts  of  France,  when  they 
were  attacked  by  what  was  called  at  the  time  the 
expedition  of  Walcheren  in  which  the  Due  d'Otrante 
displayed  a  capacity  that  alarmed  the  Emperor? 
Fouche  suspected  it  at  the  time;  but  nowadays  when 
everybody  knows  what  was  passing  at  that  crisis  in 
the  council  of  the  ministry  convoked  by  Cambaceres, 
it  is  a  certainty.  Thunderstruck  by  the  news  of 
England's  counter-thrust  to  Napoleon's  Boulogne  ex- 
pedition, and  surprised  in  the  absence  of  their  mas- 
ter, who  was  then  intrenched  in  the  island  of  Lobau 
where  all  Europe  thought  him  lost,  the  ministers 
knew  not  what  measures  to  adopt.  The  general 
opinion  was  to  dispatch  a  courier  to  the  Emperor; 
but  Fouche  alone  dared  frame  the  plan  which  he 
proceeded  to  put  into  execution. 

"  Do  as  you  wish,"  Cambaceres  said  to  him,  "as 
I  value  my  head — I  am  going  to  dispatch  a  message 
to  the  Emperor." 

It  is  well  known  what  an  absurd  pretext  the 
Emperor  employed,  on  his  return,  in  the  presence  of 
the  whole  council  of  state  to  disgrace  and  punish 
his  minister  for  having  saved  France  without  him. 
On  that  day  the  Emperor  doubled  the  dislike  of  the 
two  remaining  great  statesmen  of  the  Revolution, 
who  might  perhaps  have  saved  him  in  1813,  the 
Prince  de  Talleyrand  and  the  Due  d'Otrante.  In 


168  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

order  to  sweep  Peyrade  out  of  the  way,  the  common 
charge  of  extortion  was  alleged  against  him,  as  he 
had  countenanced  contraband  trade,  by  sharing  cer- 
tain profits  with  rich  merchants.  This  was  certainly 
rough  treatment  for  a  man  who  deserved  the  baton 
of  a  commissariat  general  for  his  distinguished  ser- 
vices. As  he  had  grown  old  amidst  the  cares  of 
business,  he  was  in  possession  of  the  secrets  of 
every  government  since  the  year  1775,  the  date  of 
his  appointment  to  the  general-lieutenancy  of  police. 
The  Emperor,  who  thought  himself  strong  enough  to 
create  men  of  what  stamp  he  pleased,  was  deaf  to 
the  representations  which  were  made  to  him  as  time 
went  on,  in  favor  of  a  man  who  was  considered  one 
of  the  most  trustworthy,  shrewd  and  clever  among 
those  nameless  guardians  of  the  state's  welfare.  He 
thought  it  possible  to  replace  Peyrade  by  Conten- 
son;  but  Contenson  was  at  that  time  profitably  en- 
gaged by  Corentin.  Peyrade  was  injured  all  the 
more  deeply  because,  libertine  and  glutton  as  he 
was,  he  found  himself  that  women  regarded  him  as 
they  would  a  pastry  cook  who  delights  in  dainties. 
Vicious  habits  had  become  ingrafted  into  his  very 
nature;  he  could  no  longer  exist  without  high  living 
and  gambling,  in  short,  he  led  the  life  of  an  unos- 
tentatious nobleman;  a  life  which  fascinates  any 
man  of  marked  ability  who  has  learned  to  require 
extravagant  pleasures.  Besides,  until  this  time  he 
had  spent  money  freely  and  had  squandered  it  with- 
out ever  being  called  to  account;  for  the  government 
was  never  rigorously  exact  with  him  or  with  his 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  169 

friend  Corentin.  His 'cynical  wit  led  him  to  love  his 
position  for  another  reason:  he  was  a  philosopher. 
Last  of  all,  a  detective,  on  whatever  round  of  the 
police  ladder  he  may  be,  can  never,  any  more  than 
a  galley-slave,  return  to  a  profession  that  men  call 
liberal  or  honest.  Once  stamped,  once  registered, 
detectives  and  condemned  criminals  have  assumed, 
like  deacons  of  the  church,  a  character  which  can 
never  be  washed  away.  The  spy  is  numbered 
among  those  beings  on  whom  society  brands  a  fatal 
destiny.  To  his  misfortune  Peyrade  had  taken  a 
great  fancy  to  a  pretty  girl,  a  child  he  knew  to  be  his 
own  by  a  celebrated  actress,  to  whom  he  had  done 
a  great  service,  and  who,  in  return,  had  shown  him 
gratitude  for  three  months.  Peyrade  had  brought 
back  his  daughter  with  him  from  Antwerp  and  was 
now  living  in  Paris  without  other  resource  than  an 
annual  allowance  of  twelve  hundred  francs  accorded 
by  the  prefecture  of  police  to  the  old  pupil  of  Lenoir. 
He  lodged  in  the  Rue  des  Moineaux,  on  the  fourth 
story,  in  a  little  suite  of  five  rooms  leased  at  two 
hundred  and  fifty  francs  a  year. 

If  there  is  any  man  who  feels  the  use  and  the 
tenderness  of  friendship,  is  it  not  the  moral  leper, 
whom  the  rabble  call  a  spy,  the  people  a  detective, 
and  the  administration  an  agent?  Thus  Peyrade 
and  Corentin  were  friends  like  Orestes  and  Pylades. 
Peyrade  had  moulded  Corentin  as  Vien  moulded 
David;  but  the  pupil  soon  surpassed  his  master. 
They  had  been  associates  in  more  than  one 
enterprise  (see  A  Dark  Affair).  Peyrade,  de- 


170  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

lighted  at  having  discovered  Corentin's  merit,  had 
launched  him  on  his  career,  by  preparing  for  him 
an  easy  triumph.  He  compelled  his  pupil  to  make 
use  of  a  mistress  who  despised  him,  as  a  bait  to 
entrap  another  man  (see  The  Chouans).  At  the 
time  Corentin  was  scarcely  twenty -five!  Corentin, 
long  one  of  those  generals  of  whom  the  minister 
of  police  is  the  constable,  had  retained,  under  the 
Due  de  Rovigo,  the  prominent  position  he  had  held 
beneath  the  Due  d'Otrante.  But,  then,  the  same 
system  prevailed  among  the  general  as  among  the 
detective  police.  In  every  affair  of  importance,  the 
three,  four,  or  five  cleverest  agents  were  summoned 
to  a  conference. 

The  minister,  forewarned  of  some  scheme  or  con- 
spiracy through  any  medium,  would  say  to  one  of 
his  police  colonels: 

"What  do  you  need  to  arrive  at  such  a  result?" 
Corentin  or  Contenson  would  answer  after  ripe 
examination : 

"Twenty,  thirty,  forty  thousand  francs." 
Then  when  the  order  to  march  was  once  given 
the  exclusive  choice  of  men  and  methods  was  left 
to  the  judgment  of  Corentin  or  of  the  appointed 
agent.  The  detective  police,  with  the  famous 
Vidocq,  followed  this  same  system  in  the  discovery 
of  crimes. 

The  political  as  well  as  the  detective  police  chose 
its  men  principally  among  the  recognized,  registered, 
habitual  agents,  who  compose,  as  it  were,  the  rank 
and  file  of  this  secret  force,  so  necessary  to  a 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  171 

government,  despite  the  rhetoric  of  philanthropists 
or  of  petty  moralists. 

The  excessive  confidence  placed  in  two  or  three 
generals  of  the  type  of  Peyrade  and  Corentin  al- 
lowed them  the  privilege  of  employing  unknown 
persons,  although  it  was  still  their  duty  to  consult 
the  minister  in  cases  of  importance.  The  experi- 
ence and  the  cunning  of  Peyrade,  however,  were 
indispensable  to  Corentin,  who,  during  the  tempest 
of  1810,  made  use  of  his  old  friend,  consulted  him 
in  every  matter  and  contributed  largely  to  his  support. 
Corentin  found  means  to  bestow  about  one  thousand 
francs  a  month  on  Peyrade.  On  his  side,  Peyrade 
was  of  immense  service  to  Corentin.  In  1816,  on 
the  occasion  of  the  disclosure  of  the  plot  in  which 
the  Bonapartist  Gaudissart  was  concerned,  Coren- 
tin tried  to  have  Peyrade  readmitted  to  the  general 
police  force  of  the  kingdom;  but  an  unknown  influ- 
ence defeated  Peyrade.  This  was  the  reason:  in 
their  anxiety  to  become  indispensable,  Peyrade, 
Corentin  and  Contenson,  at  the  instigation  of  the 
Due  d'Otrante,  had  organized,  on  behalf  of  Louis 
XVIII.,  a  counter-police  in  which  the  agents  of  the 
original  force  were  employed.  Louis  XVIII.  died 
possessed  of  secrets  which  will  remain  secrets  for 
most  carefully  informed  historians.  The  struggle 
between  the  general  police  of  the  kingdom  and  the 
counter-police  of  the  king  engendered  several  horri- 
ble conflicts,  the  secret  of  which  has  been  guarded 
by  more  than  one  scaffold.  This  is  neither  the 
time  nor  tbe  place  to  enter  into  the  details  erf  this 


172  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

subject,  for  the  Scenes  of  Parisian  Life  are  not  the 
Scenes  of  Political  Life ;  it  is  enough  to  show  what 
were  the  means  of  existence  of  the  man  whom  the 
whole  Cafe  David  called  Pere  Canquoelle,  and  what 
the  threads  were  that  bound  him  to  the  mysterious 
and  terrible  power  of  the  police. 

From  1817  to  1822,  Corentin,  Contenson,  Peyrade 
and  their  agents  were  often  employed  to  keep  watch 
over  the  minister  himself.  This  explains  the  minis- 
ter's motives  in  refusing  to  employ  Peyrade  and 
Contenson;  for,  unknown  to  them,  Corentin  had 
awakened  the  minister's  suspicions  about  them,  in 
order  to  use  his  friend  for  his  own  purposes  when 
he  thought  his  reinstatement  impossible.  The  min- 
istry at  this  time  trusted  Corentin,  and  charged 
him  to  keep  a  careful  eye  on  Peyrade;  a  step  which 
amused  Louis  XVIII.  Corentin  and  Peyrade  were 
then  masters  of  the  situation.  Contenson  had  long 
been  attached  to  Peyrade  and  was  still  faithful  to 
him.  He  was  admitted  into  the  detective  service 
by  the  orders  of  Corentin  and  of  Peyrade.  Thus 
with  the  mad  enthusiasm  inspired  by  a  profession 
that  is  lovingly  followed,  these  two  generals  de- 
lighted to  place  their  cleverest  soldiers  in  the  spots 
where  they  could  pick  up  most  evidence,  Besides, 
Contenson's  vices  and  depraved  habits,  which  had 
sunk  him  lower  than  his  two  companions,  required 
so  much  money  that  he  needed  extra  work,  "Jon- 
tenson,  without  committing  any  indiscretion,  had  told 
Louchard  that  he  knew  the  only  man  who  could 
satisfy  the  Baron  de  Nucingen;  and  Peyrade  was 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  173 

actually  the  single  agent  who  could  usurp  the  power 
of  the  police  for  the  benefit  of  an  individual,  without 
fear  of  punishment.  At  Louis  XVIII. 's  death,  Peyrade 
lost  not  only  all  his  importance  but  even  the  income 
of  his  position  as  his  Majesty's  attendant  detective. 
Believing  himself  indispensable,  he  had  continued  to 
lead  his  accustomed  life.  Women,  good  cheer  and 
the  Foreigners'  Club  had  swept  away  every  attempt 
at  economy.  Peyrade,  like  all  men  that  are  well 
fitted  for  vice,  enjoyed  an  iron  constitution.  But, 
from  1826  to  1829,  when  he  was  almost  seventy- 
four,  to  use  his  own  expression,  he  felt  the  brake 
on  the  wheels.  Year  by  year  Peyrade  saw  his 
fortunes  dwindling.  He  witnessed  the  decay  of  the 
police,  and  found  to  his  dismay  that  the  government 
of  Charles  X.  was  abandoning  its  good  traditions. 
Session  after  session  the  chamber  clipped  the  ap- 
propriations on  which  the  existence  of  the  police 
depended,  for  its  members  disliked  this  method  of 
government  and  were  determined  to  correct  the 
morals  of  the  institution. 

"  They  want  to  do  the  cooking  in  white  gloves," 
remarked  Peyrade  to  Corentin. 

Corentia  and  Peyrade  foresaw  1830  in  1822. 
They  knew  the  secret  hatred  that  Louis  XVIII. 
bore  to  his  successor,  a  hatred  which  explained 
his  unceremonious  behavior  towards  the  younger 
branch,  and  without  which  his  reign  and  policy 
would  be  an  insoluble  enigma. 

Peyrade 's  love  for  his  natural  daughter  had 
increased  as  he  grew  older.  For  her  sake  he  had 


174  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

assumed  his  civilian's  disguise,  for  he  wished  to 
marry  his  Lydie  to  an  honest  man.  For  the  past 
three  years  he  had  desired  to  install  himself  either 
at  the  prefecture  of  the  police  or  at  the  central  office 
of  the  general  police  of  the  kingdom,  in  some  open 
and  avowed  position.  He  had  succeeded  in  invent- 
ing such  a  position,  the  need  of  which,  he  told 
Corentin,  was  sure  to  be  felt  sooner  or  later.  His 
plan  was  to  create  at  the  prefecture  of  the  police  a 
so-called  bureau  of  evidence,  which  should  serve  as 
an  intermediary  between  the  police  of  Paris  proper, 
the  detective  police  and  the  police  of  the  kingdom, 
in  order  to  improve  the  general  administration  of  all 
these  scattered  forces.  Peyrade,  alone,  in  spite  of 
his  age,  and  with  fifty-five  years  of  experience,  would 
be  the  link  which  should  join  these  three  separate 
systems — would  be,  in  a  word,  the  keeper  of  records 
to  whom  politics  and  justice  should  turn  for  light  in 
obscure  cases.  By  these  means  Peyrade  hoped  that, 
with  the  aid  of  Corentin,  he  might  be  able  to  pick  up 
a  dowry  and  a  husband  for  his  little  Lydie.  Corentin 
had  already  mentioned  this  scheme  to  the  Director- 
General  of  the  police  of  the  kingdom ;  but  the 
Director-General,  a  Southerner,  without  speaking  of 
Peyrade,  thought  it  necessary  that  the  proposition 
should  originate  with  the  prefecture. 

At  the  moment  when  Contenson  had  tapped  the 
table  thrice  with  his  goldpiece,  a  signal  which  meant 
"  I  have  something  to  say  to  you,"  the  senior  de- 
tective was  intent  upon  this  problem,  "  By  what 
person,  through  what  interest  can  I  stir  the  Prefect 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  175 

of  police?"     Yet   all  the  time  he  looked  a  very 
imbecile  as  he  pored  over  his  Courrier  Francais. 

"Our  poor  Fouch£!"  thought  he  as  he  moved 
slowly  along  the  Rue  Saint  Honore.  "  That  great 
man  is  dead!  Our  go-betweens  with  Louis  XVIII. 
are  in  disgrace.  Then,  as  Corentin  was  saying  to 
me  yesterday,  nowadays  nobody  believes  in  the 
activity  or  intelligence  of  a  man  who  is  past  seventy. 
Ah!  why  did  I  ever  learn  to  dine  at  Very,  to  drink 
expensive  wine,  to  sing  la  M&re  Godichon,  and  to 
gamble  when  I  have  the  money?  To  make  his  way 
a  man  must  have  something  more  than  natural  wit, 
as  Corentin  said;  he  must  have  the  wit  to  behave 
himself.  Dear  old  M.  Lenoir  was  a  wise  prophet  of 
my  lot  when  he  told  me  I  should  never  come  to  any- 
thing after  the  Collier  business,  when  he  learned 
that  I  had  not  stayed  in  my  hiding-place  in  Oliva's 
room." 


Since  the  venerable  Pere  Canquoelle— he  was 
called  Pere  Canquoelle  at  home — had  remained  in  the 
Rue  des  Moineaux,  fourth  floor,  you  may  be  sure  that 
he  had  discovered  in  the  situation  of  his  lodgings  pe- 
culiarities that  were  favorable  to  the  exercise  of  his 
terrible  employment.  Built  at  the  corner  of  the  Rue 
Saint-Roch  his  house  was  bounded  on  one  side  by 
an  empty  lot.  As  it  was  divided  into  halves  by 
means  of  the  staircase,  on  every  story  there  were 
two  rooms  completely  isolated.  These  two  rooms 
faced  the  Rue  Saint  Roch.  Above  the  fourth  story 
rose  the  attics,  one  of  which  served  for  a  kitchen 
while  the  other  was  the  apartment  of  Pere  Can- 
quoelle's  only  servant,  a  Flemish  woman  named 
Katt,  who  had  been  Lydie's  nurse.  Pere  Canquoelle 
had  chosen  as  his  bed-room  the  first  of  the  two  de- 
tached chambers;  the  second  he  used  as  his  office. 
A  thick  partition  formed  the  back  wall  of  this  room. 
The  window  which  looked  out  on  the  Rue  des  Moi- 
neaux faced  a  blank  corner  wall.  As  the  whole 
length  of  Peyrade's  bed-chamber  separated  the  two 
friends  from  the  stairway,  they  feared  neither  eye 
nor  ear  when  they  discussed  their  business  in  the 
office,  that  was  so  perfectly  adapted  to  their  horrid 
trade.  By  way  of  precaution,  Peyrade  had  laid  a 
straw  mattress,  a  coarse  drugget  and  a  very  thick 
12  (177) 


178  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

carpet  in  the  servant's  bed-room,  under  the  pretext 
of  adding  to  the  comfort  of  his  daughter's  nurse. 
More  than  this,  he  had  blocked  up  the  chimney,  and 
made  use  of  a  stove,  the  pipe  of  which,  laid  through 
the  exterior  wall,  abutted  on  the  Rue  Saint-Roch 
Finally  he  had  stretched  several  carpets  on  the  floor 
in  order  to  prevent  the  slightest  noise  from  pene- 
trating to  the  lodgers  on  the  lower  story.  An  adept 
in  the  art  of  spying,  he  sounded  partition  wall, 
ceiling  and  floor  once  every  week,  and  examined 
them  like  a  man  trying  to  kill  some  annoying  insect. 
This  absolute  security  from  witnesses  or  listeners 
recommended  the  place  to  Corentin  as  a  council  cham- 
ber, whenever  he  did  not  conduct  his  deliberations  at 
home.  Corentin's  dwelling  was  known  only  to  the 
Director-General  of  the  police  of  the  kingdom  and  to 
Peyrade;  he  received  there  persons  despatched  as 
emissaries  on  occasions  of  grave  importance,  by 
either  ministry  or  court;  but  no  agent,  no  inferior 
police  officer  was  admitted.  He  transacted  the 
business  of  his  trade  in  Peyrade's  quarters.  In  this 
commonplace-looking  room,  schemes  were  laid  and 
resolutions  formed  which  could  tell  strange  tales  and 
curious  dramas  if  the  walls  had  tongues.  There, 
from  1816  to  1826,  vast  interests  were  discussed, 
and  discoveries  made  of  the  germs  of  events  destined 
to  weigh  heavily  upon  France,  and  there,  ever  since 
1819,  Peyrade  and  Corentin,  as  far-seeing  as  Bellart 
the  Attorney-General,  and  far  better  informed  than 
he,  had  whispered  to  each  other: 

"  If  Louis  XVIII.  refuses  to  strike  such  and  such  a 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  179 

blow  to  rid  himself  of  some  prince  or  other,  it  is  a 
sure  sign  that  he  detests  his  brother.  Is  it  his  pur- 
pose to  bequeath  him  a  revolution?" 

Peyrade's  door  was  ornamented  with  a  slate,  on 
which  at  times  there  appeared  cabalistic  signs  and 
figures  written  in  chalk.  This  infernal  algebra 
offered  an  easy  solution  to  the  initiated. 

Opposite  to  the  meanly  furnished  apartment  of 
Peyrade,  Lydie's  suite  was  composed  of  an  ante- 
chamber, a  small  parlor,  a  bed-chamber  and  a  dress- 
ing-room. Lydie's  door,  like  that  of  Peyrade's,  was 
constructed  of  a  plate  of  sheet-iron,  a  third  of  an  inch 
thick,  wedged  between  two  strong  oaken  boards 
and  armed  with  locks  and  a  system  of  hinges  that 
rendered  it  as  difficult  to  force  as  prison  doors.  Thus 
although  the  house  had  a  narrow  entrance,  was 
built  over  a  shop,  and  was  even  without  the  pro- 
tection of  a  janitor,  Lydie  lived  there  with  nothing 
to  fear.  The  dining-room,  the  small  parlor  and  the 
bed-chamber,  with  boxes  of  flowers  in  every  win- 
dow, were  dusted  with  Flemish  cleanliness  and 
luxuriously  furnished. 

The  Flemish  nurse  had  never  left  Lydie,  whom 
she  called  her  daughter.  Both  of  them  went  to 
church  with  a  regularity  which  gave  an  excellent 
opinion  of  Pere  Canquoelle  to  the  royalist  grocer 
who  was  established  in  the  house  at  the  corner  of 
the  Rue  des  Moineaux  and  the  Rue  Neuve-Saint- 
Roch,  and  whose  family,  cook  and  salesmen  occu- 
pied the  ground  floor  and  the  first  story.  The 
proprietor  lived  on  the  second  floor,  and  the  third 


180  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

had  been  leased  for  the  past  twenty  years  by  a 
lapidary.  Every  lodger  was  given  a  key  to  the  back 
door.  The  grocer's  wife  was  quite  content  to  re- 
ceive letters  and  packages  addressed  to  these  three 
peaceable  households,  especially  as  the  grocery 
shop  was  provided  with  a  letter-box.  Without  these 
details  neither  strangers  nor  those  familiar  with 
Paris  would  have  been  able  to  understand  the  mys- 
tery and  calm,  the  unconstraint  and  security  which 
made  this  house  exceptional  in  Paris.  From  mid- 
night till  morning,  Pere  Canquoelle  could  spin  the 
web  of  any  plot,  and  receive  spies,  ministers,  women 
and  girls  without  arousing  anybody's  suspicion. 
Peyrade,  of  whom  the  Flemish  nurse  had  said  to  the 
grocer's  cook,  "  He  would  not  hurt  a  fly!"  passed  for 
the  best  of  men.  He  spared  no  expense  for  his  daugh- 
ter Lydie,  who  had  had  Schmucke  for  a  music- 
teacher,  and  was  enough  of  a  musician  to  compose. 
She  had  learned  to  wash  in  sepia,  and  to  paint  in 
two  styles  of  water-color. 

Every  Sunday  Peyrade  dined  with  his  daughter. 
On  that  day  the  worthy  man  was  a  father,  pure  and 
simple.  Although  no  devotee,  Lydie  was  religious; 
she  received  the  sacrament  at  Easter,  and  confessed 
every  month.  Now  and  then,  however,  she  allowed 
herself  the  slight  diversion  of  the  theatre,  and  in 
fair  weather  she  walked  in  the  gardens  of  the 
Tuileries.  These  were  all  her  pleasures,  for  she 
led  the  most  secluded  of  lives.  Lydie  adored  her 
father  and  was  completely  ignorant  of  his  sinister 
powers  and  mysterious  business.  No  ungratified 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVF  l8l 

wish  had  troubled  the  pure  life  of  this  pure  girl. 
Slender,  beautiful  as  her  mother,  gifted  with  a 
heavenly  voice  and  a  finely  moulded  face,  set  off 
by  the  blonde  curls  of  her  lovely  hair,  she  looked  like 
one  of  those  angels  more  mystical  than  real,  which 
some  early  painters  have  sketched  on  the  back- 
grounds of  their  "Holy  Families."  The  glance  of 
her  blue  eyes  seemed  to  cast  a  ray  from  heaven 
upon  whomsoever  she  deigned  to  look.  Her  dress, 
simple,  maidenly  and  unexaggerated  in  style,  car- 
ried with  it  charming  suggestions  of  respectable 
home  life.  Imagine  an  old  Satan,  the  father  of  an 
angel,  drinking  in  new  life  from  her  holy  companion- 
ship, and  you  will  have  an  idea  of  Peyrade  and  his 
daughter.  Had  anybody  stained  his  diamond,  the 
father  would  have  invented  for  his  destruction  one 
of  those  horrid  pitfalls  which  under  the  Restora- 
tion entrapped  so  many  poor  wretches  and  brought 
them  to  the  scaffold.  Ten  thousand  francs  a  year 
supplied  the  wants  of  Lydie  and  of  Katt,  whom  she 
called  ner  nurse. 

As  he  turned  down  the  Rue  des  Moineaux  Peyrade 
perceived  Contenson;  he  passed  him,  went  up  to 
his  apartment,  and  then,  hearing  the  step  of  his 
agent  on  the  stair,  let  him  in  before  the  cook  had 
opened  the  kitchen  door.  A  bell  rung  at  the  open- 
ing of  a  latticed  door  on  the  third  story,  warned  the 
lodgers  of  the  third  and  fourth  floors  of  the  approach 
of  any  visitor.  It  is  useless  to  add  that  after  mid- 
night Peyrade  wrapped  the  bell  carefully  in  cotton. 

"Why  such  haste,  Philosopher?" 


182  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

Philosopher  was  the  nickname  that  Peyrade  gave 
to  Contenson,  and  it  was  not  undeserved  by  this 
Epictetus  of  detectives.  The  name  of  Contenson 
hid,  alas!  one  of  the  most  ancient  names  of  the 
feudal  nobility  of  Normandy. 

"  But  there's  something  like  ten  thousand  to  be 
earned." 

4 '  What  is  it  ?     Something  political  ? ' ' 

"  No,  only  tomfoolery!  The  Baron  de  Nucingen, 
you  know  the  old  licensed  robber  I  mean,  is  neighing 
after  a  woman  he  caught  sight  of  in  the  Bois  de  Vin- 
cennes,  and  have  her  he  must,  or  he  will  die  of 
love.  They  had  a  consultation  of  doctors  yesterday, 
so  his  valet  told  me.  I  have  already  relieved  him 
of  a  thousand  francs  under  pretence  of  finding  the 
girl." 

And  Contenson  described  the  meeting  of  Nucin- 
gen and  Esther,  adding  that  the  baron  had  some 
fresh  intelligence  of  the  matter. 

"Good,"  said  Peyrade,  "we  shall  find  the  Dul- 
cinea.  Bid  the  baron  drive  in  a  close  carriage  to 
the  Champs  Elysees,  Avenue  Gabriel,  at  the  corner 
of  the  Allee  de  Marigny." 

Peyrade  saw  Contenson  to  the  stair,  and  then 
rapped  upon  his  daughter's  door  in  the  way  agreed 
upon  between  them.  He  entered  radiant.  Chance 
had  thrown  in  his  way  a  means  of  gaining  the  place 
he  had  so  long  desired.  He  threw  himself  into  a  deep 
arm-chair,  and  after  kissing  Lydie's  forehead,  said 
to  her: 

"  Play  me  something." 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  183 

Lydie  played  him  a  piece  composed  by  Beethoven 
for  the  piano. 

"Prettily  played,  my  darling,"  said  he,  taking 
his  daughter  in  his  lap.  "  Do  you  know  that  we 
are  twenty-one  years  old?  We  must  find  a  hus- 
band, for  our  father  is  over  seventy." 

"  I  am  happy  here,"  she  answered. 

"  You  love  nobody  else  but  me,  and  I  so  ugly  and 
so  old?"  asked  Peyrade. 

"Whom  would  you  have  me  love?" 

"  I  am  going  to  dine  with  you,  my  pet,  tell  Katt. 
I  think  of  taking  a  house  and  finding  a  place  for 
myself  and  a  husband  worthy  of  you,  some  excellent 
young  man,  full  of  talent,  whom  you  may  be  proud 
of  some  day." 

"  I  have  never  seen  but  one  man  whom  I  should 
like  to  be  my  husband." 

"You  have  seen  one?" 

"  Yes;  near  the  Tuileries.  He  passed  me  with 
Madame  de  Serizy  on  his  arm." 

"  What  is  his  name?" 

"  Lucien  de  Rubempre.  I  was  sitting  beneath  a 
lime  tree  with  Katt,  not  thinking  of  anything.  On 
one  side  of  me  were  two  ladies,  and  one  of  them 
said,  '  There  go  Madame  de  Serizy  and  the  hand- 
some Lucien  de  Rubempre.'  Then  I  looked  at  the 
couple  about  whom  these  ladies  spoke.  'Ah,  my 
dear,'  answered  the  other,  'some  women  are  very 
lucky.  There  is  nothing  she  cannot  have,  because 
she  was  one  of  the  Ronquerolles,  and  her  husband 
is  powerful.'  '  But,  my  dear,'  replied  the  first, 


184  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

'  Lucien  costs  her  dear.'  What  does  that  mean, 
papa?" 

"  It  is  the  kind  of  nonsense  they  talk  in  society," 
replied  Peyrade  to  his  daughter,  with  a  kindly  air. 
"Perhaps  they  were  alluding  to  political  events." 

"  Now  you  have  questioned  me  and  I  have  an- 
swered. If  you  want  me  to  marry,  find  me  a  hus- 
band who  looks  like  that  young  man." 

"Child!"  answered  the  father,  "among  men, 
beauty  is  not  always  the  sign  of  worth.  Young 
people  endowed  with  a  pleasing  exterior  meet  with 
no  difficulty  at  the  outset  of  life;  they  do  not  use 
their  talents,  they  are  corrupted  by  the  advances 
which  the  world  makes  toward  them,  and  there 
comes  a  time  when  they  must  pay  interest  for  their 
gifts!  I  long  to  find  for  you  the  man  whom  rich 
and  stupid  citizens  leave  unaided  and  unprotected." 

"What  kind  of  a  man  is  that,  father?" 

"A  man  of  unrecognized  talent.  But,  my  darling 
girl,  I  have  the  means  of  searching  every  garret  in 
Paris,  and  fulfilling  your  programme  by  finding  for 
you  a  man  as  handsome  as  the  rake  whom  you 
describe,  only  he  shall  be  a  man  born  to  glory  and 
to  riches,  and  sure  to  make  his  mark  in  the  world. 
Oh!  I  never  thought  of  it  before,  but  I  must  have 
an  army  of  nephews,  and  among  them  perhaps  I 
may  find  one  worthy  of  you.  I  am  going  to  write, 
or  ask  somebody  to  write,  to  Provence." 

Strange  to  say,  at  that  very  moment,  a  young 
man,  dying  of  hunger  and  exhaustion,  traveling 
afoot  from  the  department  of  Vaucluse,  a  nephew 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  185 

of  Pere  Canquoelle,  was  entering  Paris  by  the 
Barriere  d'ltalie  in  search  of  his  uncle.  In  the 
dreams  of  the  family,  to  whom  their  uncle's  occu- 
pation was  unknown,  Peyrade  offered  many  hopes: 
they  imagined  him  come  back  from  the  Indies  with 
his  millions,  and  it  was  in  consequence  of  the  ro- 
mances told  about  him  at  their  fireside  that  one 
of  his  grand-nepheWs,  named  Theodose,  had  under- 
taken a  voyage  of  circumnavigation  in  quest  of  his 
mythical  uncle. 

After  he  had  tasted  the  joys  of  fatherhood  for 
several  hours,  Peyrade  washed  and  dyed  his  hair 
(for  the  powder  had  been  a  disguise)  and,  muffled 
in  a  heavy  greatcoat  of  blue  cloth  buttoned  up  to 
the  chin,  a  black  cape  over  his  shoulders,  thick- 
soled  boots  on  his  feet  and  a  special  passport  in  his 
pocket,  walked  with  slow  steps  along  the  Avenue 
Gabriel,  where  Contenson,  in  the  dress  of  an  old 
market-woman,  met  him  in  front  of  the  gardens  of 
the  £lysee-Bourbon. 

"Monsieur  de  Saint-Germain,"  said  Contenson, 
giving  his  former  chief  his  old  nickname,  "you 
have  helped  me  to  make  five  hundred  francs;  but  I 
have  been  standing  there  just  to  tell  you  that  that 
cursed  baron,  before  giving  them  to  me,  went  to  get 
some  advice  at  the  house  (the  prefecture)." 

"  I  shall  need  you,  no  doubt,"  answered  Peyrade. 
"See  our  numbers,  7,  10  and  21:  we  can  make 
use  of  those  men,  and  no  man  shall  be  the  wiser, 
neither  they,  nor  the  police,  nor  the  prefecture." 

Contenson  walked  away  and  took  his  stand  near 


186  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

the  carriage  in  which  M.  de  Nucingen  was  awaiting 
Peyrade. 

"I  am  M.  de  Saint-Germain,"  said  Peyrade  to 
the  baron,  as  he  stepped  up  to  the  carriage  window. 

"Very  veil;  ged  een  mit  me,"  replied  the  baron, 
who  immediately  ordered  the  coachman  to  drive  on 
toward  the  Arc  de  Triomphe  de  1'dtoile. 

"  You  have  been  to  the  prefecture,  baron?  That 
was  scarcely  fair.  May  I  ask  what  you  said  to  the 
Prefect  and  what  answers  he  gave  you?"  inquired 
Peyrade. 

"  Bevore  gifmg  fife  hundert  vrancs  to  ein  knave 
like  Gondenzon,  I  vished  to  know  veder  he  hat 
earnet  zem.  I  zimply  zaid  to  ze  Brevect  of  ze  bolice 
zat  I  dezired  to  embloy  an  achent  of  ze  name  of 
Beyrate,  aproad,  on  a  telicate  mission,  ant  asked  eef 
I  could  haf  an  unleemited  convidance  een  him.  Ze 
brevect  anzered  me  zat  you  vere  ein  of  ze  gleverest 
and  mosd  honesd  men  in  ze  pizness.  Zat  ees  ze 
whole  avvair." 

"  Will  you  tell  me  your  story,  sir,  now  that  you 
have  been  intrusted  with  my  real  name?" 

When  the  baron  had  gabbled  through  a  long  and 
elaborate  explanation  in  his  frightful  Polish  Jew 
accent  and  had  described  his  meeting  with  Esther, 
the  cry  of  the  groom  who  was  stationed  behind  the 
carriage,  and  his  own  futile  efforts,  he  concluded 
by  telling  what  had  passed  on  the  previous  evening 
in  his  drawing-room;  the  smile  that  had  escaped 
Lucien  de  Rubempre,  the  suspicions  of  Bianchon 
and  some  of  the  dandies  present  relative  to  an 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  187 

acquaintance  between  the  lovely  stranger  and  the 
young  men. 

"  Listen,  sir:  first  of  all,  you  must  give  me  ten 
thousand  francs  on  account,  for  expenses;  for  your 
very  life  is  at  stake  in  this  matter ;  and  since  your 
life  is  a  perfect  manufactory  for  turning  out  business, 
we  must  leave  no  stone  unturned  to  unearth  this 
woman  for  you.  Ah!  you  are  caught  this  time." 

"Yez,  gaught." 

"  If  I  need  more  I  shall  tell  you  so,  baron;  trust 
to  me,"  answered  Peyrade.  "I  am  not,  as  you 
think,  a  detective.  In  1807  I  was  Commissioner- 
General  of  the  police  at  Antwerp,  and  now  that 
Louis  XVIII.  is  dead,  I  can  confide  to  you  that  for 
seven  years  I  directed  his  counter-police  system.  I 
am  not  to  be  haggled  with.  You  see,  baron,  I  can- 
not estimate  the  selling  price  of  the  consciences  I 
must  buy,  before  I  have  examined  a  job  with  care. 
You  need  feel  no  anxiety;  I  shall  succeed.  Don't 
imagine  that  you  can  satisfy  me  with  any  sum  what- 
ever; I  wish  something  quite  different  for  my  re- 
ward." 

"Eef  only  eet  ees  not  ein  kingtom,"  said  the 
baron. 

"  It  is  less  than  nothing  for  you." 

"Gondent." 

"You  know  the  Kellers?" 

"Very  veil  inteet." 

"  Francois  Keller  is  the  son-in-law  of  the  Count 
de  Gondreville;  and  the  Count  de  Gondreville  dined 
at  your  table  yesterday  with  his  son-in-law." 


188  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

"How  ze  tefil  to  you  know?"  cried  the  baron. 
"  Chorches  must  haf  tolt  you,  for  he  ees  alvays 
blapping." 

Peyrade  laughed.  The  baron  noticed  his  amuse- 
ment and  conceived  strange  suspicions  of  his  ser- 
vant. 

I  "  The  Count  de  Gondreville  is  in  a  position  to 
obtain  an  appointment  in  the  prefecture  of  the 
police  which  I  desire,  and  concerning  which  the 
prefect  must  receive  a  memorandum  within  forty- 
eight  hours,"  said  Peyrade.  "  Demand  the  appoint- 
ment for  me.  Stir  up  the  Count  de  Gondreville's 
interest,  keep  it  at  the  boiling  point,  and  thus  you 
can  repay  the  service  I  shall  do  you.  I  ask  nothing 
more  than  your  word,  for  if  you  fail  it,  sooner  or 
later  you  shall  curse  the  day  that  you  were  born." 

"I  gif  you  my  sacret  vort  to  to  my  pest." 

"  If  I  only  did  my  best  for  you,  it  would  not  be 
enough." 

"Very  veil,  I  vill  to  eet,  honesdly." 

"  Honestly.  That  is  all  I  ask  for,"  said  Peyrade, 
"  and  honesty  is  the  only  novel  gift  that  we  can 
make  each  other." 

"  Honesdly,"  reiterated  the  baron.  "  Vere  to  you 
vish  me  to  led  you  oud?" 

"At  the  foot  of  the  Bridge  of  Louis  XVI." 

"At  ze  pridge  of  ze  Jamber,"  said  the  baron  to 
his  footman,  who  came  to  the  carriage  window. 

"I  zhall  haf  ze  unknown,  zen!"  thought  the 
baron  as  he  drove  away. 

"Strange,"  thought  Peyrade  as  he  walked  back 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  189 

to  the  Palais  Royal,  where  he  proposed  to  attempt 
to  treble  the  ten  thousand  francs  and  make  a  dowry 
for  Lydie;  "it  is  my  duty  to  scrutinize  the  private 
life  of  the  young  man  whose  look  alone  has  be- 
witched my  daughter.  He  must  have  the  eye  to 
catch  a  woman,"  he  added  to  himself,  making  use 
of  one  of  those  individual  expressions  which  he  had 
invented  for  his  private  use.  His  own  observations 
and  those  of  Corentin  were  summed  up  in  sen- 
tences which,  though  they  violated  the  rules  of 
language,  were  not  deficient  in  energy  and  pictur- 
esqueness. 


The  Baron  de  Nucingen  entered  his  house  a 
changed  man.  He  amazed  his  household  and  his 
wife;  his  color  was  good  and  his  expression  ani- 
mated. He  was  in  high  spirits. 

"Stockholders  beware!"  said  Du  Tillet  to  Rastig- 
nac.  They  were  taking  tea  after  the  opera  in 
Delphine  de  Nucingen's  little  parlor. 

"Yez,"  answered  the  baron,  smiling,  for  he  had 
overheard  his  friend's  pleasantry,  "I  lone  to  to 
pizness." 

"So  you  have  seen  your  enchantress?"  inquired 
Madame  de  Nucingen. 

"No,"  replied  he;  "I  have  only  hobe  of  finding 
her." 

"Does  a  man  ever  love  his  wife  like  this?"  ex- 
claimed Madame  de  Nucingen,  feeling  a  pang  of 
jealousy  or  pretending  that  she  did. 

"When  she  is  yours,"  said  Du  Tillet  to  the  baron, 
"you  must  ask  us  to  sup  with  her,  for  I  am  most 
curious  to  examine  the  woman  who  has  been  able 
to  make  you  so  young  again." 

"Zheeesein  masderbiece  of  greation,"  answered 
the  old  banker. 

"He  will  walk  into  a  trap  like  a  child,"  whispered 
Rastignac  in  Delphine's  ear. 

"Pooh!  he  makes  money  enough  to — " 
(191) 


IQ2  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

"To  lose  a  little,  doesn't  he?"  suggested  Du  Til- 
let,  interrupting  his  hostess. 

The  baron  was  pacing  up  and  down  the  floor  as  if 
his  legs  needed  stretching. 

"Now's  the  time  to  induce  him  to  pay  your  latest 
debts,"  whispered  Rastignac  to  Madame  de  Nu- 
cingen. 

At  this  very  moment  Carlos,  who  had  been  in 
the  Rue  Taitbout  giving  his  final  directions  to 
Europe,  the  principal  actress  in  a  comedy  invented 
to  deceive  the  Baron  de  Nucingen,  was  walking 
confidently  away.  He  was  accompanied  as  far  as 
the  boulevard  by  Lucien,  who  felt  a  secret  fear  at 
seeing  his  demoniacal  companion  disguised  so 
perfectly  that  he  himself  could  recognize  only  his 
voice. 

"Where  in  the  devil  did  you  find  a  woman  more 
beautiful  than  Esther?"  he  demanded  of  his  cor- 
rupter. 

"She  was  not  to  be  found  in  Paris,  my  boy;  com- 
plexions like  that  are  not  made  in  France." 

"  I  haven't  yet  recovered  from  my  amazement 
The  Callipygian  Venus  has  not  such  a  figure.  A 
man  would  damn  himself  for  her.  But  where  did 
you  find  her?" 

"She's  the  handsomest  woman  in  London.  Drunk 
with  gin,  she  murdered  her  lover  in  a  fit  of  jealousy. 
The  lover  was  a  wretch  whom  the  London  police  is 
well  rid  of,  and  they  have  sent  the  woman  to  Paris 
for  a  time  in  order  to  let  the  affair  blow  over.  The 
wench  has  been  well  educated.  She's  a  parson's 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  193 

daughter,  and  speaks  French  as  if  it  were  her 
mother  tongue.  She  knows  not  and  must  never 
know  the  part  she  is  playing  here.  She  has  been 
told  that  if  she  pleased  you  she  could  squeeze  mil- 
lions out  of  you,  but  that  you  were  jealous  as  a 
tiger,  and  she  has  been  given  the  same  programme 
of  life  that  Esther  had." 

"What  if  Nucingen  should  like  her  better  than 
Esther?" 

"Ah!  you've  come  to  that,  have  you?"  cried 
Carlos.  "To-day  you  are  in  terror  because  the 
very  thing  that  frightened  you  yesterday  has  not 
come  to  pass.  You  have  no  reason  to  fear.  This 
girl  is  fair  and  pale,  with  blue  eyes;  she's  a  com- 
plete contrast  to  the  lovely  Jewess,  and  nothing  less 
than  Esther's  eyes  can  fire  a  man  as  worn  out  with 
dissipation  as  Nucingen.  How  the  devil  could  you 
hide  a  scare-crow  ?  When  this  doll  has  played  her 
part  I  shall  send  her,  under  trusty  guidance,  to 
Rome  or  to  Madrid,  where  she  will  have  many 
lovers." 

"Since  we  have  her  with  us  for  so  brief  a  space," 
said  Lucien,  "I  shall  return  to  her." 

"Go,  my  son;  amuse  yourself.  To-morrow  you 
will  have  one  day  more.  I  myself  am  waiting  for 
someone  whom  I  have  charged  to  find  out  what  is 
going  on  at  the  Baron  de  Nucingen's." 

"Whom?" 

"The  mistress  of  his  valet;  for  we  must  never  be 
ignorant  of  what  is  passing  in  the  enemy's  camp." 

At  midnight  Paccard,  Esther's  groom,  met  Carlos 
13 


194  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

on  the  Pont  des  Arts,  the  spot  best  suited  in  all 
Paris  for  a  secret  conference.  While  they  talked 
the  groom  kept  watch  on  one  side,  while  his  master 
scanned  the  opposite  direction. 

"The  baron  went  to  the  prefecture  of  the  police 
this  morning  between  four  and  five, "  said  the  groom, 
"and  to-night  he  boasted  that  they  had  promised 
to  find  for  him  the  woman  whom  he  had  seen  in  the 
Bois  de  Vincennes." 

"We  shall  be  watched,"  said  Carlos,  "but  by 
whom?" 

"He  has  employed  Louchard,  the  commercial  de- 
tective, before." 

"That's  nonsense,"  replied  Carlos.  "We  have 
only  the  police  night-watch  and  the  detective 
police  to  fear;  the  moment  that  they  halt  it  is  our 
turn  to  march." 

"There's  one  thing  more." 

"What?" 

"The  prison  comrades.  Yesterday  I  saw  Lapou- 
raille.  He  has  cooled  off  a  family  and  he  has  ten 
thousand  five-franc  pieces  in  gold!" 

"They  will  catch  him,"  said  Jacques  Collin; 
"that's  the  murder  in  the  Rue  Boucher." 

"What  are  the  orders?"  asked  Paccard,  with  a 
deferential  air,  as  if  he  were  a  marshal  receiving 
the  commands  of  Louis  XVIII. 

"You  will  go  out  every  evening  at  ten  o'clock," 
answered  the  counterfeit  priest,  "and  ride  at  a 
smart  pace  in  the  Bois  de  Vincennes,  in  the  Bois  de 
Meudon,  and  in  the  Bois  de  Ville  d'Avray.  If 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  195 

anybody  watches  you  or  follows  you,  don't  disappoint 
him.  Be  obliging,  communicative,  and  don't  refuse 
a  bribe.  You  must  talk  about  the  jealousy  of 
Rubempre,  who  is  madly  in  love  with  madame,  and 
who  above  all  things  wants  it  kept  secret  that  she 
is  his  mistress." 

"Enough.     Shall  I  go  armed?" 

"Never!"  answered  Carlos  sharply.  "What  good 
would  a  weapon  do  you  ?  It  would  only  get  you  into 
trouble.  Whatever  happens  don't  use  your  hunt- 
ing-knife. As  you  can  break  the  legs  of  the  strongest 
man  by  the  blow  I  taught  you,  and  can  fight  against 
three  sergeants  and  be  certain  of  stretching  two  of 
them  on  the  ground  before  they  can  fire  at  you, 
what  are  you  afraid  of?  Haven't  you  your  staff?" 

"You  are  right,"  said  the  groom. 

Paccard,  known  as  Vielle-Garde,  Fameux-Lapin, 
and  Bon-let,  was  a  man  with  sinews  of  whipcord  and 
arms  of  steel.  He  wore  Italian  whiskers,  hair  like 
an  artist's,  and  a  beard  like  a  sapper's.  His  face 
was  pale  and  impassive  as  that  of  Contenson ;  he 
succeeded  in  concealing  the  fierceness  of  his  char- 
acter, and  was  blessed  with  the  appearance  of  a 
drum-major,  that  disarmed  all  suspicion.  A  criminal 
escaped  from  Poissy  or  from  Melun  could  not  have 
such  serious  self-conceit  nor  such  unshaken  faith  in 
his  own  merit.  The  Giafar  of  the  Haroun-al-Ras- 
chid  of  the  galleys,  he  displayed  toward  his  master 
the  same  affectionate  admiration  that  Peyrade  had 
for  Corentin.  A  tall  man,  he  was  excessively  long- 
legged,  with  a  narrow  chest  and  none  too  much  flesh 


196  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

on  his  bones;  he  walked  on  his  two  long  pike- 
staves  with  a  sedate  step.  His  right  foot  never 
advanced  until  his  right  eye  had  scanned  all  exterior 
appearances  with  the  calm  rapidity  peculiar  to  the 
robber  and  the  spy.  The  left  eye.  imitated  the  right 

A  step,  and  then  a  look!  Spare,  agile,  ready  for 
anything  at  any  hour,  had  it  not  been  for  his  insid- 
ious enemy,  drink,  Paccard,  as  Jacques  declared, 
would  have  been  quite  perfect,  so  admirably  was  he 
equipped  with  the  talents  indispensable  to  a  man  at 
war  with  society.  The  master,  however,  had  event- 
ually persuaded  the  slave  to  compromise  and  never 
touch  a  drop  before  evening.  On  his  return  home 
Paccard  gulped  down  the  liquid  gold  that  he  poured 
out  in  a  succession  of  small  glasses  from  a  big- 
bellied  stone  bottle  that  had  come  from  Dantzic. 

"I  shall  keep  my  eyes  open,"  he  said,  donning 
his  magnificent  hat  and  plume  after  bowing  to  the 
man  whom  he  called  his  confessor. 

We  have  described  the  train  of  events  by  which 
Jacques  Collin,  Peyrade,  and  Corentin,  each  so 
strong  in  his  own  sphere,  came  to  fight  upon  the 
same  field  and  employ  their  genius  in  a  struggle 
where  every  contestant  battled  for  his  passions  or 
for  his  interests.  It  was  a  silent  but  a  terrible 
combat,  where  in  were  lavished  talent,  hatred,  wrath, 
marches,  countermarches,  stratagem,  and  strength 
enough  to  build  a  fortune.  Profound  mystery  en- 
veloped the  men  and  means  employed  by  Peyrade, 
who  was  seconded  by  his  friend  Corentin  in  a  piece 
of  work  that  seemed  to  them  child's  play.  History 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  197 

is  silent  on  this  subject  as  it  is  silent  on  the  true 
causes  of  many  revolutions. 

The  result  was  as  follows: 

Five  days  after  the  interview  between  Nucingen 
and  Peyrade  in  the  Champs  £lysees,  one  morning  a 
man  of  some  fifty  years,  dressed  in  a  blue  suit  with 
a  somewhat  distinguished  figure,  a  face  of  the  leaden 
whiteness  that  public  life  gives  to  diplomates,  and 
an  air  that  might  have  marked  a  minister  of  state, 
stepped  out  of  a  handsome  carriage  and  tossed  the 
reins  to  his  groom.  A  lackey  who  was  sitting  on  a 
bench  in  the  peristyle  rose  respectfully  to  open 
the  splendid  plate-glass  door,  and  the  stranger  asked 
whether  the  Baron  de  Nucingen  was  visible. 

"Your  name,  sir?"  inquired  the  servant 

"Tell  the  baron  that  I  come  from  the  Avenue 
Gabriel,"  answered  Corentin.  "If  there  are  any 
visitors  be  careful  not  to  say  that  name  aloud,  or 
you  would  be  turned  out  of  doors." 

A  minute  later  the  servant  returned  and  conducted 
Corentin  through  several  inner  rooms  to  the  baron's 
private  office. 

Corentin  exchanged  an  impenetrable  look  for  a 
look  of  the  same  nature  from  the  banker,  and  both 
bowed  politely. 

"Baron,"  began  Corentin,  "I  come  to  you  in 
Peyrade's  name." 

"Gut,"  ejaculated  the  baron,  clicking  the  bolts  of 
the  two  doors. 

"M.  de  Rubempre's  mistress  lives  in  the  Rue 
Taitbout  in  the  old  apartment  of  Mademoiselle  de 


198  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

Bellefeuille,  the  ex-mistress  of  M.  de  Granville,  the 
attorney-general. " 

"Och,  zo  near  me,"  exclaimed  the  baron;  "how 
sdrange!" 

"I  readily  understood  how  you  fell  in  love  with 
such  a  magnificent  woman;  she  was  a  delight  to 
look  upon.  Lucien  is  so  jealous  of  the  girl  that  he 
has  forbidden  her  to  show  herself;  and  he  is  dearly 
loved  in  return,  since,  during  the  four  years  that  she 
has  succeeded  to  Mademoiselle  Bellefeuille's  apart- 
ment and  calling,  not  even  the  neighbors,  the  janitor, 
nor  the  lodgers  in  the  house  have  caught  sight  of  her. 
The  child  never  goes  out  except  at  night;  when  she 
goes,  the  curtains  of  the  carriage  windows  are  drawn, 
and  she  herself  is  veiled.  It  is  not  merely  for  motives 
of  jealousy  that  Lucien  conceals  the  woman ;  he  must 
marry  Clotilde  de  Grandlieu,  and  he  is  at  present 
the  favored  lover  of  Madame  de  Serizy.  Naturally, 
he  clings  to  the  mistress  who  advances  his 
fortunes,  and  to  his  betrothed.  So  you  are  mas- 
ter of  the  situation,  for  Lucien  will  sacrifice  his 
pleasure  to  his  interests  and  his  vanity.  You 
are  rich;  this  will  probably  be  your  last  love; 
be  generous.  You  can  gain  your  end  through  the 
waiting-maid.  Give  the  soubrette  some  ten 
thousand  francs;  she  will  hide  you  in  her  mis- 
tress's room,  and  for  you  the  game  is  well  worth 
the  candle." 

No  figure  of  rhetoric  can  describe  the  short,  jerky, 
concise  utterance  of  Corentin.  The  baron  noticed 
it,  and  could  not  help  showing  astonishment,  an 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  199 

expression  that  he  had  long  since  banished  from  his 
impassive  features. 

"I  come  to  ask  you  for  five  thousand  francs  on 
behalf  of  my  friend  Peyrade,  who  has  lost  five  of 
your  bank  notes, — a  small  mishap,"  continued  Co- 
rentin,  in  his  most  commanding  tone.  "Peyrade 
knows  his  Paris  too  well  to  spend  money  on  adver- 
tising, and  he  has  counted  upon  you.  But  this  is 
not  the  most  important  thing,"  continued  Corentin, 
in  a  voice  that  seemed  to  deprive  his  demand  for 
money  of  all  serious  import  "If  you  would  avoid 
sorrow  in  your  old  age  secure  for  Peyrade  the  place 
he  requested ;  you  can  secure  it  for  him  with  ease. 
The  Director-General  of  the  police  of  the  kingdom 
received  a  note  yesterday  on  this  subject  All 
that  is  necessary  is  that  Gondreville  address  the 
Prefect  of  the  police.  So,  simply  tell  Malin,  Count 
de  Gondreville, that  it  is  to  help  one  of  those  persons 
who  succeeded  in  ridding  him  of  the  De  Simeuse 
gentlemen,  and  he  will  take  the  proper  steps  at 
once." 

"Here,  zir,"  said  the  baron,  producing  five  notes 
of  a  thousand  francs  each,  and  presenting  them  to 
Corentin. 

"The  waiting-maid  has  an  intimate  friend, 
Paccard,  a  big  groom,  who  lives  in  the  Rue  de  Pro- 
vence at  a  coachmaker's,  and  lets  himself  as  an 
outrider  to  anyone  who  cares  to  cut  a  princely 
figure.  You  can  reach  Madame  Van  Bogseck's  wait- 
ing-maid through  Paccard.  He's  a  big  Piedmontese 
dunce,  overfond  of  his  vermouth." 


200  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

This  confidence  so  daintily  tossed  to  the  baron,  in 
the  fashion  of  a  postscriptum,  was  evidently  the 
compensation  for  five  thousand  francs.  The  baron 
sought  to  divine  the  character  of  Corentin,  who,  as 
he  was  intelligent  enough  to  perceive,  was  not  a 
common  spy,  but  rather  a  director  of  spies.  He  no 
more  succeeded,  however,  in  reading  Corentin  than 
an  archaeologist  succeeds  in  reading  an  inscription, 
three-fourths  of  the  letters  of  which  are  wanting. 

"Vat  ees  ze  name  of  ze  vaiting-mait?"  he  de- 
manded. 

"Eugenie,"  replied  Corentin,  who  bowed  to  the 
baron  and  went  out 

Transported  with  delight  the  Baron  de  Nucingen 
abandoned  his  desk  and  his  business  and  went  up 
to  his  room,  happy  as  a  young  man  of  twenty  who 
enjoys  in  perspective  his  first  rendezvous  with  his 
first  mistress.  The  baron  took  all  the  thousand- 
franc  notes  from  his  private  safe — fifty-five  thousand 
francs,  a  sum  which  might  have  purchased  the  hap- 
piness of  a  village — and  placed  them  in  his  coat 
pocket  The  prodigality  of  millionaires  can  only 
be  compared  to  their  greed  for  gain.  The  instant  a 
Croesus  feels  a  caprice  or  a  passion,  money  is  no 
longer  anything  to  him;  it  is  harder  for  him  to  ac- 
quire a  caprice  than  gold.  Enjoyment  is  a  rare 
blessing  in  a  life  of  satiety,  crammed  with  the 
excitement  born  of  vast  speculations,  that  has  long 
ceased  to  stir  his  bloodless  heart  For  example : 
One  of  the  richest  capitalists  in  Paris,  a  man  of  well- 
known  eccentricity,  meets  one  day  on  the  boulevard 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  2OI 

an  excessively  pretty  little  working-girl,  accom- 
panied by  her  mother;  this  grisette  was  leaning  on 
the  arm  of  a  young  man  who  was  dubiously  dressed 
and  strode  along  with  a  vulgar  swagger ;  at  the  first 
glance  the  millionaire  falls  in  love  with  the  young 
girl.  He  follows  her  to  her  house ;  he  enters ;  she 
tells  him  of  her  life — a  medley  of  balls  at  the 
Mabille,  of  days  without  bread,  of  play-going  and 
toil ;  he  grows  interested  and  leaves  five  notes  of  a 
thousand  francs  beneath  a  five-franc  piece.  Shame- 
ful generosity!  Next  morning  a  famous  uphol- 
sterer, Braschon,  comes  to  take  the  grisette's  orders, 
furnishes  a  suite  of  her  choice,  and  lavishes  twenty 
thousand  francs  upon  it  The  working-girl  feeds 
on  fantastic  hopes.  She  buys  gowns  for  her  mother 
suited  to  their  altered  fortunes;  she  flatters  herself 
that  she  will  be  able  to  place  her  former  lover  in 
the  office  of  some  insurance  company.  She  waits — 
one,  two  days ;  then  one,  two  weeks.  She  thinks 
that  she  is  bound  to  be  faithful,  and  runs  into  debt. 
The  capitalist,  called  away  to  Holland,  had  for- 
gotten the  working-girl ;  he  never  once  entered  the 
paradise  where  he  had  placed  her,  and  she  fell 
thence  as  low  as  a  woman  can  fall  in  Paris.  Nucin- 
gen  did  not  gamble,  Nucingen  was  no  patron  of  the 
arts,  Nucingen  had  no  imagination;  so  he  was 
driven  headlong  into  his  passion  for  Esther,  with 
a  blind  ardor  that  entered  into  the  calculations  of 
Carlos  Herrera. 

After  breakfast  the  baron  summoned  Georges,  his 
valet,  and  bade  him  go  to  the  Rue  Taitbout  to  request 


202  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

Mademoiselle  Eugenie,  the  waiting-maid  of  Madame 
Van  Bogseck,  to  come  to  his  office,  in  order  to  dis- 
cuss an  affair  of  importance. 

"You  vill  vait  vor  her  ant  gonduct  her  to  mein 
room,  ant  keep  dell  ing  her  zat  her  vortune  ees 
mate." 

Georges  had  endless  trouble  in  persuading  Europe- 
Eugenie  to  come.  Her  mistress,  she  told  him,  never 
permitted  her  to  go  out;  she  might  lose  her  position, 
etc.,  etc.  Nor  did  Georges  fail  to  sing  his  own 
praises  in  the  baron's  ear,  and  received  ten  louis  for 
his  pains. 

"If  madame  goes  out  to-night  without  her,"  said 
Georges  to  his  master,  whose  eyes  shone  like  car- 
buncles, "she  will  come  about  ten  o'clock." 

"Gut!  You  vill  gome  at  nine  o'clock  to  tress  me 
ant  aranche  my  hair,  for  I  vish  to  look  my  very 
pest  I  tink  zat  I  zhall  abbear  bevore  my  miss- 
dress  or  elze  money  ees  not  money." 

Between  twelve  and  one  o'clock  the  baron  dyed 
his  hair  and  his  whiskers.  He  took  a  bath  before 
dinner,  and  at  nine  o'clock  he  perfumed  himself  and 
attired  himself  like  a  bridegroom  in  his  finest  clothes. 
Apprised  of  this  metamorphosis,  Madame  de  Nucin- 
gen  could  not  resist  the  pleasure  of  seeing  her  hus- 
band. 

"Heavens!  how  ridiculous  you  look!"  cried  she. 
"At  least  put  on  a  black  satin  cravat  instead  of  that 
white  one  which  makes  your  whiskers  appear  still 
stiffer  than  they  are ;  and  besides,  you  are  the  image 
of  an  old  fogy  of  the  time  of  the  Empire,  and  give 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  203 

yourself  the  air  of  a  parl  iamentary  councillor.  Take 
off  those  diamond  studs; they  are  worth  a  hundred 
thousand  francs  apiece.  That  monkey  would  beg 
them  of  you  and  you  could  never  refuse  her.  It  is 
as  well  to  put  them  in  my  ears  as  to  offer  them  to 
such  a  woman  as  she." 

The  poor  banker,  who  was  struck  by  the  justice 
of  his  wife's  remarks,  reluctantly  obeyed  her. 

' '  Reteeculous !  Reteeculous !  I  haf  nefer  zaid  zat 
you  vere  reteeculous  ven  you  dressed  youzelf  een 
you  pest  vor  ze  zake  of  your  leetle  Mennesir  de 
Rasdignac. " 

"I  trust  that  you  have  never  found  me  ridiculous. 
Am  I  the  woman  to  make  such  solecisms  in  my 
dress  ?  Look,  turn  round !  Button  your  coat  up 
within  two  buttons  of  the  top  like  the  Due  de 
Maufrigneuse,  and,  above  all,  look  young." 

"Sir,"  said  Georges,  "here  is  Mademoiselle 
Eugenie." 

"Atieu,  matame,"  exclaimed  the  banker. 

He  accompanied  his  wife  beyond  the  limits  of 
their  respective  apartments  to  make  sure  that  she 
could  not  listen  to  the  conference. 

He  returned,  and  taking  Europe  by  the  hand 
with  a  kind  of  ironical  respect,  he  ushered  her  into 
his  room. 

"Veil,  my  tear,  you  are  very  lugky,  vor  you  zerve 
ze  luffliest  vooman  een  ze  uniferse.  Your  vordune 
ees  mate  eff  you  vill  sbeak  een  my  pehalf  ant  pe 
een  my  eenterests." 

"I  wouldn't  do  it  for  ten  thousand  francs,"  cried 


204  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

Europe.  "You  know,  baron,  that  before  all  else  I 
am  an  honest  girl." 

"Yez,  I  exbect  to  pay  veil  vor  honesdy.  Zat  ees 
vat  ve  gall  in  pizness  guriosidy." 

"But  that's  not  all,"  said  Europe;  "if  you 
shouldn't  please  my  mistress,  and  that's  possible, 
she  will  get  angry ;  I  shall  be  discharged — and  my 
place  is  worth  a  thousand  francs  a  year." 

"Ze  gabidal  of  ein  tausent  francs  ees  dventy 
tausent  francs ;  ant  eef  I  zhould  gif  zem  to  you  you 
vould  loose  netting." 

"Ho,  ho!  if  that's  the  tune  you  are  playing,  old 
boy,"  exclaimed  Europe,  "things  are  quite  changed. 
Where  are  they?" 

"Here,"  replied  the  baron,  displaying  the  bank 
notes  one  by  one. 

Each  bank  note  seemed  to  strike  a  flash  of  fire 
from  Europe's  eyes,  that  revealed  the  cupidity  he 
had  anticipated. 

"You  pay  for  the  place,  but  honesty, — con- 
science?" said  Europe,  raising  her  crafty  face  and 
darting  a  serio-comic  glance  at  the  baron. 

"Gonzience  ees  gheaper  zan  ze  blace;  put  led  us 
make  eet  fife  tausent  vrancs  more,"  said  he,  adding 
five  thousand-franc  notes. 

"No,  twenty  thousand  francs  for  the  conscience, 
and  five  thousand  for  the  place  if  I  lose  it" 

"As  you  blease,"  he  replied,  addingthefive  bills. 
"Put,  to  earn  zem  you  must  gonzeal  me  een  your 
misdress'  chamber  turing  ze  night,  ven  zhe  ees 
alone." 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  2OJ 

"If  you  will  swear  to  me  never  to  tell  who  it  was 
that  let  you  in,  I  consent.  But  I  warn  you  of  one 
thing:  my  mistress  is  strong  as  a  Turk;  she  loves 
M.  de  Rubempre  madly,  and  if  you  were  to  give  her 
a  million  in  bank  notes  she  would  not  be  unfaithful 
to  him.  It  sounds  preposterous,  but  when  she  loves 
she's  worse  than  if  she  were  virtuous.  When  she 
goes  to  walk  in  the  woods  with  my  master  he  rarely 
sleeps  in  the  house.  She  has  gone  there  to-night, 
so  I  can  hide  you  in  my  room.  If  she  comes  back 
alone  I  shall  come  and  get  you.  You  will  stay  in 
the  parlor ;  I  shall  not  close  the  door  of  her  bed-room, 
and  the  rest — Lord!  the  rest  is  for  you  to  do." 

"I  vill  gif  you  ze  tventy-five  tausent  vrancs  in  ze 
barlor.  Eet  iz  gif  ant  take." 

"Ah!"  said  Europe,  "you  are  no  more  suspicious 
than  that?  Excuse  a  little — " 

"You  vill  haf  jances  enough  to  throddle  me;  ve 
zhall  begome  agguainted  virst" 

"All  right  Be  in  the  Rue  Taitbout  at  midnight; 
but  take  with  you  thirty  thousand  francs  at  the 
least  A  maid's  honesty,  like  a  cab,  is  much  dearer 
after  midnight" 

"Eet  vould  pe  more  brutentto  gif  you  ein  jecque 
on  ze  pank." 

"No,  no,"  said  Europe;  "bank  notes,  or  the 
game's  up." 

At  one  o'clock  in  the  morning  the  Baron  de 
Nucingen,  concealed  in  the  garret  v/here  Europe 
slept,  was  a  prey  to  all  the  disquietudes  of  a  man  in 
search  of  adventure.  He  scarcely  breathed,  his  blood 


206  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

seemed  to  boil  down  to  his  very  toes,  and  his  head 
was  bursting  like  an  overheated  steam  engine. 

"I  zvear  I  enchoyed  more  than  ein  hundert  tau- 
sent  growns'  vorth, "  said  he  afterward,  when  he 
described  his  situation  to  Du  Tillet 

He  listened  for  the  slightest  noises  of  the  street, 
and  at  two  in  the  morning  caught  the  sound  of  his 
mistress'  carriage  rolling  back  from  the  boulevard. 
When  the  front  door  turned  on  its  hinges  his  silk 
waistcoat  rose  and  fell  in  time  with  the  beating 
of  his  heart;  he  was  really  to  see  the  heavenly 
glowing  face  of  Esther !  The  step  on  the  stairway 
and  the  slipping  sound  of  a  curtain  on  its  rod 
pierced  his  heart  The  expectation  of  this  supreme 
moment  excited  him  more  than  if  his  fortune  had 
been  at  stake. 

"Ah!"  moaned  he  to  himself.  "Zisees  to  liff. 
Ah!  eet  ees  to  liff  too  much;  I  zhall  be  capable  of 
notting. " 

"My  mistress  is  alone;  comedown,"  said  Europe 
as  she  appeared.  "Above  all,  don't  make  a  noise, 
you  fat  elephant" 

"Vat  elepharid,"  repeated  he  smiling,  and  tread- 
ing as  if  red-hot  bars  of  iron  were  beneath  his  feet 
Europe  led  the  way,  with  a  candle  in  her  hand. 

"Here;  gount  zem,"  said  the  baron,  handing  the 
bank  notes  to  Europe  as  soon  as  he  reached  the 
parlor. 

Europe  took  the  thirty  notes  with  a  serious  air 
and  went  out,  closing  the  door  upon  the  banker. 
Nucingen  walked  straight  to  the  bed-room.  The 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  207 

handsome  Englishwoman  was  standing  there,  say- 
ing, "Is  that  you,  Lucien?" 

"No,  mein  luff — "  answered  Nucingen,  who  did 
not  finish  his  sentence. 

He  stood  stupefied  at  the  sight  of  a  woman  who 
was  the  perfect  opposite  of  Esther — fair  hair  instead 
of  the  dark  tresses  which  he  had  seen,  weakness 
instead  of  the  strength  he  had  marveled  at,  a  soft 
Breton  night  where  the  sun  of  Arabia  had  glittered ! 

"Ah,  where  did  you  come  from?  what's  your 
name?  what  do  you  want?"  cried  the  English- 
woman, pulling  the  bell  rope,  though  the  bells  made 
no  answer. 

"I  haf  sduffed  ze  pells  mit  gotton.  Put  to  not  pe 
afrait.  I  am  going  avay, "  said  he.  "Tirty  tausent 
vrancs  gone  to  ze  togs.  You  are  reely  ze  misdress 
of  Mennesir  Licien  te  Ripembre?" 

"Something  of  the  kind,  my  boy,"  replied  the 
Englishwoman,  who  spoke  French  with  ease.  "Put 
who  may  you  pe,  bray?"  she  added,  mimicking 
Nucingen's  accent 

"A  most  delutet  man,"  he  answered  piteously. 

"Delutet  in  drying  to  gatch  a  bretty  vooman?" 
she  asked  jokingly. 

"Bermid  me  to  zend  you  do-morro  ein  zet  of 
chewels  to  remint  you  of  ze  Paron  te  Nichen- 
guenne. " 

"I  ton't  know  heem,"  said  she,  shaking  with 
laughter;  "but  the  set  of  jewels  will  be  welcome, 
my  fat  housebreaker." 

"You  to  know  heem.     Atieu,  montame.     You  are 


208  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

feet  for  a  king;  put  I  am  only  ein  poor  panker  of 
zixty  years  ant  more,  ant  you  haf  zhowed  me  how 
bowerful  ees  ze  wooman  whom  I  luff,  vor  your  gott- 
like  peaudy  has  not  mate  me  to  vorget  her." 

"Put  zis  luffly  greature,  as  you  gall  me — "  re- 
sponded the  Englishwoman. 

"Ees  not  zo  luffly  as  zhe  who  virst  insbiret  me." 

"You  were  speaking  of  dirdy  thousand  francs — to 
whom  did  you  give  them?" 

"To  your  rasgally  vaiting-mait" 

The  woman  called ;  Europe  was  not  far  distant 

"Oh!"  shrieked  Europe,  "a  man  in  your  room, 
and  a  man  who  isn't  my  master.  Horrors!" 

"Did  he  give  you  thirty  thousand  francs  to  in- 
duce you  to  let  him  in?" 

"No,  madame;  both  of  us  together  are  not  worth 
as  much." 

And  Europe  began  to  scream,  "Help,  thieves!" 
so  violently  that  the  terrified  banker  rushed  to 
the  door.  Europe  pushed  him  down  the  staircase. 

"You  fat  rascal,"  she  cried,  "you  would  de- 
nounce me  to  my  mistress!  Thieves,  robbers!" 

The  infatuated  but  despairing  baron  succeeded 
without  further  molestation  in  gaining  his  carriage 
which  was  waiting  on  the  boulevard.  He  no  longer 
knew  in  what  detective  to  trust 

"Perhaps  madame  would  like  to  rob  me  of  my 
profits?"  exclaimed  Europe,  returning  toward  her 
mistress  like  a  Fury. 

"I  don't  know  French  customs,"  said  the  Eng- 
lishwoman. 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  20Q 

"I  have  but  a  single  word  to  say  to  my  master 
and  out  madame  goes  to-morrow,"  replied  Europe 
insolently. 

"Zat  gursed  vaiting-mait,"  said  the  baron  to 
Georges,  who  naturally  asked  whether  his  master 
were  satisfied,  "has  ropped  me  of  dirdy  tausent 
vrancs,  put  it  ees  all  my  misdake,  my  very  gread 
misdake." 

"So  your  get-up  counted  for  nothing.  The  deuce ! 
I  don't  advise  you  to  perfume  yourself  again  for 
nothing." 

"Chorches,  I  tie  of  tesbair.  Mein  heart  ees  gold, 
gold  as  ize,  Esder,  mein  frient!" 

Georges  was  always  his  master's  friend  in  a 
great  crisis. 


Two  days  after  this  scene,  which  Europe  had 
described  far  more  amusingly  than  it  can  be  writ- 
ten, for  she  enlivened  it  with  her  mimicry,  Carlos 
was  breakfasting  alone  with  Lucien. 

"Neither  the  police  nor  anybody  else  must  pry 
into  our  business, "  said  he  in  a  low  tone,  as  he 
borrowed  Lucien's  cigar  to  light  his  own.  "It  is 
unwholesome.  I  have  discovered  a  daring  but  sure 
method  of  keeping  our  baron  and  his  agents  quiet 
You  will  go  to  see  Madame  de  Serizy  and  make 
yourself  attractive.  You  will  tell  her  in  conversa- 
tion that  out  of  kindness  to  Rastignac,  who  has  long 
since  wearied  of  Madame  de  Nucingen,  you  consent 
to  play  the  part  of  a  cloak  to  conceal  his  mistress. 
M.  de  Nucingen,  wildly  in  love  with  the  woman 
whom  Rastignac  has  secreted — this  will  amuse  her — 
has  taken  into  his  head  to  set  the  police  on  your 
track;  thus  though  you  are  perfectly  innocent  of 
the  sins  of  your  compatriot,  your  interests  at  the 
Grandlieus  are  in  danger  of  being  compromised. 
You  will  then  implore  the  countess  to  lend  you  the 
influence  of  her  husband,  who  is  a  minister  of  state, 
to  obtain  admission  to  the  prefecture  of  the  police. 
Once  there  make  your  complaint  to  the  prefect,  but 
make  it  prudently,  like  a  man  who  is  soon  to  enter 

(211) 


212  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

the  vast  machine  of  government  and  to  become  one 
of  its  most  important  adjuncts.  You  will  discuss 
the  police  system  as  a  statesman  would;  you  will 
praise  everything,  the  prefect  included.  The  most 
perfect  machines  will  sputter  and  splash  their  oil. 
Don't  pretend  to  be  more  angry  than  necessary. 
You  are  not  to  appear  displeased  with  the  prefect; 
but  make  him  promise  to  oversee  his  people,  and  ask 
him  not  to  act  harshly  toward  anyone.  The  more 
suave  and  gentlemanlike  you  are  the  more  fiercely 
will  the  prefect  proceed  against  his  agents.  We 
shall  then  be  left  in  peace  and  we  can  bring  back 
Esther,  who  must  be  crying  like  the  does  in  the 
forest." 

At  that  time  the  Prefect  was  an  old  magistrate. 
Old  magistrates  are  too  young  as  Prefects  of  the 
police.  Imbued  with  law,  perfectly  at  home  in  all 
legal  questions,  their  hand  is  slow  to  use  those  arbi- 
trary means  that  are  often  enough  required  by  some 
crisis  in  which  action  of  the  prefecture  should 
resemble  that  of  a  fireman  ordered  to  put  out  a  fire. 
In  the  presence  of  the  vice-president  of  the  Council 
of  State  the  Prefect  enumerated  more  defects  in  the 
police  system  than  actually  existed;  he  deplored 
the  abuses,  and  did  not  forget  the  visit  that  the 
Baron  de  Nucingen  had  paid  him,  and  the  informa- 
tion he  had  demanded  concerning  Peyrade.  The 
Prefect  promised  to  check  the  individual  excesses  of 
his  agents  and  at  the  same  time  thanked  Lucien  for 
addressing  himself  directly  to  him,  swore  secrecy, 
and  looked  as  though  he  understood  the  whole 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  21$ 

intrigue.  Fine-sounding  phrases  concerning  private 
liberty  and  the  inviolability  of  the  home  were  ex- 
changed between  the  minister  of  state  and  the 
Prefect,  to  whom  M.  de  Serizy  observed  that  though 
the  highest  interests  of  the  realm  occasionally 
demanded  secret  acts  that  were  contrary  to  law,  yet 
crime  began  when  these  methods  of  state  were 
applied  to  individual  interests. 

The  next  day,  as  Peyrade  was  on  his  way  to  his 
dear  Cafe  David  where  he  was  accustomed  to 
watch  the  bourgeois  with  the  delight  of  an  artist 
gazing  at  budding  flowers,  a  gendarme  in  civilian's 
dress  accosted  him  in  the  street 
.  "I  was  on  my  way  to  your  house,"  he  whispered; 
"I  have  orders  to  conduct  you  to  the  prefecture." 

Peyrade  hailed  a  cab  and  got  in,  together  with 
the  gendarme,  without  making  the  slightest  remon- 
strance. 

The  Prefect  of  the  police  treated  Peyrade  as 
if  he  had  been  the  lowest  turnkey  of  a  prison. 
As  he  talked  he  walked  up  and  down  the  pathway 
of  the  small  garden  of  the  prefecture  of  the  police, 
which  at  that  time  extended  the  length  of  the  Qua! 
des  Orfevres. 

"It  is  not  without  reason,  sir,  that  since  1809  you 
have  been  outside  of  the  administration.  Don't 
you  know  to  what  you  expose  us  and  to  what  you 
expose  yourself?" 

The  reprimand  ended  in  a  thunder-clap.  The 
Prefect  announced  harshly  to  poor  Peyrade  that  not 
only  was  his  annual  allowance  to  be  stopped,  but 


214  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

that  in  addition  he  himself  would  be  the  object  of 
special  supervision.  The  old  man  received  this 
blow  with  perfect  calmness.  Nothing  is  more  im- 
movable or  impassive  than  a  ruined  man.  Peyrade 
had  lost  all  his  money  at  the  gambling  table. 
Lydie's  father  had  counted  on  his  appointment  and 
found  himself  left  without  other  resource  than  the 
alms  of  his  friend  Corentin. 

"I  have  been  Prefect  of  the  police;  I  admit  that 
you  are  entirely  right,"  said  the  old  man  quietly  to 
the  official,  who,  enveloped  in  his  judicial  majesty, 
shrugged  his  shoulders  significantly.  "But  permit 
me,  without  any  attempt  to  excuse  myself,  to  explain 
to  you  that  you  don't  understand  me  at  all,"  Pey- 
rade went  on,  casting  a  searching  glance  at  the  Pre- 
fect "Your  words  are  either  too  severe  for  the  old 
Commissary-General  of  the  police  of  Holland  or  too 
gentle  for  a  mere  detective.  Only,"  added  Pey- 
rade, after  a  pause  as  he  perceived  that  the  prefect 
kept  silence,  "remember  what  I  have  had  the  honor 
to  tell  you,  sir,  though  I  shall  not  interfere  withyour 
police  nor  importune  you  with  my  own  justification, 
you  will  have  occasion  to  see  that  in  this  matter 
somebody  is  deceived;  at  this  moment  it  is  your 
servant,  later  you  will  say,  'It  was  I.'  " 

And  he  bowed  to  the  Prefect  who  stood  apparently 
wrapt  in  thought,  trying  to  conceal  his  astonish- 
ment He  returned  to  his  lodging,  his  body  weak 
and  trembling,  mad  with  rage  against  the  Baron  de 
Nucingen.  The  fat  financier  alone  could  have  be- 
trayed a  secret  concentrated  within  the  brains  of 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  21 5 

Contenson,  Peyrade  and  Corentin.  The  old  detec- 
tive accused  the  banker  of  trying  to  avoid  payment 
when  once  his  end  was  attained.  A  single  inter- 
view had  sufficed  for  him  to  divine  the  sagacity  of 
the  most  sagacious  of  bankers. 

"He  makes  everybody  bankrupt,  even  ourselves; 
but  I  shall  have  my  revenge,"  said  Peyrade  to  him- 
self. "  I  have  never  asked  a  favor  of  Corentin,  but  I 
shall  ask  him  now  to  help  me  revenge  myself  on  this 
fat-witted  old  money-bags.  Damned  baron !  You 
shall  know  the  stuff  I  am  made  of  when  you  wake  up 
some  morning  to  find  your  daughter  dishonored. 
But  does  he  love  his  daughter?" 

The  evening  of  this  catastrophe,  which  destroyed 
the  old  man's  last  hopes,  he  seemed  ten  years  older. 
Talking  with  his  friend  Corentin  he  mingled  his 
lamentations  with  tears  that  fell  at  the  thought  of 
the  sad  future  which  he  must  bequeath  to  his 
daughter,  who  was  his  idol,  his  pearl,  his  thank- 
offering  to  God. 

"We  shall  follow  up  this  matter,"  said  Coren- 
tin; "but  first  of  all  we  must  know  whether  it  was 
the  baron  who  betrayed  you.  Were  we  wise  in 
relying  on  Gondreville?  That  old  rascal  owes  us 
too  great  a  grudge  not  to  attempt  our  ruin ;  besides 
I  must  have  his  son-in-law  Keller  watched.  He's 
an  ass  in  politics,  and  quite  capable  of  dipping  into 
some  conspiracy  to  overturn  the  elder  branch  for 
the  benefit  of  the  younger.  To-morrow  I  shall  know 
what  is  going  on  at  Nucingen's  house,  whether  he  has 
seen  his  mistress,  and  who  it  is  that  has  tightened 


2l6  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

the  curb  so  suddenly.  Don't  lose  heart.  The 
Prefect  will  not  keep  his  position  long.  The  times 
are  ripe  for  revolutions,  and  revolutions  are  our  sun- 
shine." 

A  singular  whistle  resounded  in  the  street 

"It's  Contenson,"  said  Peyrade,  as  he  placed  a 
light  in  the  window,  "and  it's  some  private  business 
of  mine." 

The  next  instant  the  faithful  Contenson  appeared 
before  these  two  gnomes  of  the  police  whom  he 
revered  as  genii. 

"What  brings  you?"  demanded  Corentin. 

"Something  new.  I  was  coming  out  of  113  where 
I  had  lost  everything;  whom  should  I  see  in  the 
galleries?  Georges!  He  has  been  discharged  by 
the  baron  under  suspicion  of  being  a  spy." 

"So  this  is  the  effect  of  a  smile  that  escaped  me," 
said  Peyrade. 

"Oh,  the  disasters  that  I  have  seen  caused  by 
smiles!"  exclaimed  Corentin. 

"Without  counting  those  caused  by  horse-whip- 
ping," added  Peyrade,  alluding  to  the  Simeuse  affair. 
(See  A  Dark  Affair.)  "But  tell  us,  Contenson, 
what  happened?" 

"This  is  what  happened,"  replied  Contenson:  "I 
loosened  Georges'  tongue,  and  paid  for  liquor  of 
every  color  under  heaven  till  he  was  drunk;  I  my- 
self must  be  like  an  alembic.  Our  baron  went  to 
the  Rue  Taitbout,  redolent  of  perfume.  He  found 
there  the  handsome  woman  whom  you  know.  But 
the  whole  thing  was  a  farce.  The  Englishwoman 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  217 

was  not  his  luffly  sdranger,  and  he  had  spent  thirty 
thousand  francs  to  bribe  the  chambermaid;  sheer 
madness !  He  thinks  himself  a  great  man  because  he 
accomplishes  little  things  with  an  enormous  capital; 
invert  the  phrase  and  you  have  the  problem  that  the 
man  of  genius  solves.  The  baron  came  back  in  a 
pitiful  plight  The  following  day  Georges  played  the 
saint  and  said  to  his  master :  'Why  do  you  employ 
these  gallows-birds?  If  you  would  trust  to  me  I 
should  find  his  unknown  love,  for  the  description  you 
have  given  me  is  quite  enough ;  I  will  ransack  all 
Paris.'  'Go,'  said  the  baron,  'I  will  pay  you  well !' 
Georges  confided  all  this  to  me,  mingled  with  the 
most  ridiculous  details.  It  never  rains  but  it  pours, 
and  the  next  day  the  baron  received  an  anonymous 
letter  which  read  somewhat  like  this :  'M.  de  Nucin- 
gen  is  dying  of  love  for  an  unknown  woman, — he 
has  already  thrown  a  great  deal  of  money  to  the 
dogs;  if  he  consent  to  stand  at  midnight  at  the 
further  end  of  the  Pont  de  Neuilly,  to  get  into  a 
carriage  behind  which  he  will  see  the  mounted 
groom  of  the  Bois  de  Vincennes,  and  to  allow  his 
eyes  to  be  bandaged,  he  will  see  her  whom  he  loves. 
Since  his  wealth  may  lead  him  to  suspect  the  purity 
of  the  intentions  of  those  who  act  thus,  M.  le  Baron 
may  be  accompanied  by  his  faithful  Georges. 
There  will  be  no  one  else  in  the  carriage.'  The 
baron  goes  there  with  Georges,  without  telling  him 
anything.  Both  of  them  allow  their  eyes  to  be 
blindfolded  and  their  heads  to  be  swathed  in 
veils.  The  baron  recognizes  the  groom.  Two 


2l8  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

hours  later  the  carriage,  which  jogged  along  like  a 
coach  of  Louis  XVIII. — God  bless  his  soul!  He  was 
a  king  who  knew  what  the  police  ought  to  be — 
stopped  in  the  midst  of  a  wood.  The  baron,  whose 
eyes  have  been  unbandaged,  sees  his  quest  in  a  car- 
riage that  has  also  stopped,  then  she  disappears  in« 
stantly;  and  the  carriage — at  the  same  pace  as  Louis 
XVIII. 's  coach — takes  him  back  to  the  Pont  de 
Neuilly,  where  he  finds  his  own  conveyance.  They 
had  put  in  Georges'  hands  a  small  note  which  read 
thus:  'How  many  thousand-franc  notes  has  M.  le 
Baron  spent  in  order  to  meet  his  love  ?'  Georges 
gave  the  note  to  his  master,  and  the  baron,  believing 
Georges  is  in  league  with  me  or  with  you,  Monsieur 
Peyrade,  to  fleece  his  master,  discharged  him 
promptly.  The  dolt  of  a  banker !  He  never  should 
have  sent  Georges  away  until  he  hatmedmit%uc%ess. ' ' 

"Did  Georges  see  the  woman?"  inquired  Co- 
rentin. 

"Yes,"  replied  Contenson. 

"Well,"  cried  Peyrade,  "what  does  she  look 
like?" 

"Oh!"  answered  Contenson,  "he  said  but  a 
word, — a  sun  of  beauty!" 

"We're  tricked  by  rogues  cleverer  than  we !"  ex- 
claimed Peyrade.  ' '  The  scoundrels  want  to  sell  the 
woman  to  the  baron  for  all  that  she'll  bring." 

"Ja,  mein  herr!"  replied  Contenson;  "when  I 
learned  that  your  ears  were  boxed  at  the  prefecture, 
I  persuaded  Georges  to  blab." 

"I  should  like  to  know  who  bowled  me  over," 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  219 

remarked  Peyrade;  "we  should  see  whose  blade 
was  the  longer." 

"We  must  play  at  eavesdropping,"  said  Conten- 
son. 

"He's  right,"  said  Peyrade;  "we  must  slip  into 
the  crannies  to  listen  and  wait — " 

"That's  the  method  to  study,"  exclaimed  Coren- 
tin.  "Just  at  present  I've  nothing  to  do.  Be  very 
cautious,  Peyrade ;  we  must  always  be  obedient  to 
the  Prefect" 

"M.  de  Nucingen  is  a  good  subject  to  bleed," 
observed  Contenson.  "He  has  too  many  thousand- 
franc  bank  notes  in  his  veins." 

"Lydie's  dowry  was  in  it!"  whispered  Peyrade 
in  Corentin's  ear. 

"Come,  Contenson,  we  must  be  going.  We'll 
leave  our  father  to  sleep.  Fare — well ;  to — morrow !" 

"What  an  odd  bit  of  business  our  friend  was  aim- 
ing at,"  said  Contenson  to  Corentin  on  the  door- 
step. "What !  to  marry  his  daughter  with  the  price 
of —  Ha!  Ha!  It  might  make  the  theme  for 
a  charming  play — a  moral  one,  too,  called  The 
Maiden's  Dower." 

"Ah!  How  you  are  made,  you  people,  and  what 
ears  you  have!"  said  Corentin  to  Contenson. 
"Surely  mother  nature  provides  all  her  species  with 
the  qualities  necessary  to  the  services  she  expects 
of  them !  Society  is  but  a  second  nature !" 

"What  you  say  is  very  philosophic,"  replied  Con- 
tenson ;  "a  professor  would  develop  it  into  a  system !" 

"Keep  yourself  informed  of  everything  that  goes 


220  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

on  at  M.  de  Nucingen's  in  connection  with  the  fair 
unknown,"  continued  Corentin  with  a  smile,  as  he 
walked  along  the  street  in  company  with  the  detec- 
tive; "in  a  general  way,  I  mean;  don't  use  too 
much  finesse  about  it" 

"We  can  watch  and  see  whether  the  chimneys 
smoke,"  said  Contenson. 

"A  man  like  the  baron  can't  be  a  successful  lover 
without  having  it  known,"  continued  Corentin. 
"Besides,  men  are  our  cards;  we  must  never  let 
them  trick  us." 

"The  deuce!  That  would  be  like  the  criminal  at 
the  scaffold  amusing  himself  by  cutting  the  execu- 
tioner's throat,"  exclaimed  Contenson. 

"Your  little  joke  is  always  ready,"  answered 
Corentin,  with  a  faint  smile  that  scarcely  wrinkled 
his  plaster  masque. 

The  affair  was  of  immense  importance  apart  from 
its  results.  If  the  baron  had  not  betrayed  Peyrade, 
who  could  have  taken  the  trouble  to  interview  the 
Prefect  of  the  police  ?  For  Corentin  it  involved  the 
possible  discovery  of  traitors  among  his  men.  He 
went  to  bed  musing  upon  the  same  question  which 
agitated  Peyrade. 

"Who  made  the  complaint  to  the  Prefect?  To 
whom  can  this  woman  belong?" 

Thus  each  side  in  perfect  ignorance  of  the  other, 
Jacques  Coll  in,  Peyrade  and  Corentin,  drew  nearer 
and  nearer  together ;  while  poor  Esther,  Nucingen 
and  Lucien  were  fated  to  be  swept  into  a  struggle 
that  was  already  begun,  and  was  destined  to  assume 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  221 

terrible  proportions  in  consequence  of  the  vanity 
peculiar  to  police  officials. 

Thanks  to  Europe's  ability  the  most  menacing 
portion  of  the  sixty  thousand  francs  of  debt  weigh- 
ing upon  Lucien  and  Esther  was  cancelled.  The 
confidence  of  the  creditors  was  not  even  shaken. 
For  a  moment  Lucien  and  his  corrupter  could  pause 
for  breath,  like  hunted  beasts  lapping  a  little  water 
on  the  border  of  some  marsh ;  they  could  continue  to 
skirt  the  edge  of  the  precipice  along  which  the 
strong  man  led  his  weak  disciple  to  the  gallows  or 
to  success. 

"To-day,"  said  Carlos  tohisslave,  "westake  all 
for  all ;  but  luckily  the  cards  are  marked  and  the 
gamesters  children." 

For  some  time  in  obedience  to  his  terrible  mentor 
Lucien  devoted  himself  to  Madame  de  Serizy.  He 
was  never  to  be  suspected  of  having  a  kept  mis- 
tress; and  besides,  from  the  delight  of  being  loved, 
from  the  allurements  of  a  worldly  life  he  borrowed 
strength  to  shake  off  his  besetting  cares.  He  fol- 
lowed Mademoiselle  Clotilde  de  Grandlieu's  direc- 
tions and  never  saw  her  except  in  the  Bois  or  in  the 
Champs  Elysees. 

On  the  day  following  Esther's  imprisonment  in 
the  keeper's  lodge, the  enigmatical  and  terrible  being 
of  whom  she  stood  so  much  in  awe  came  to  ask  her 
to  sign  three  blank  papers  that  were  stamped,  and 
moreover  bore  the  hazardous  words:  "Accepted  for 
sixty  thousand  francs,"  on  the  first;  "accepted  for 
one  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  francs,"  on  the 


222  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

second;  "accepted  for  one  hundred  and  twenty 
thousand  francs,"  on  the  third.  In  all,  three  hun- 
dred thousand  francs  of  acceptances.  By  writing 
"good  for,"  you  make  an  ordinary  note.  The  word 
"accepted"  constitutes  a  bill  of  exchange  and  sub- 
jects you  to  arrest,  and  renders  the  imprudent  signer 
liable  to  five  years'  imprisonment,  a  penalty  almost 
never  inflicted  by  the  police  court,  but  which  is 
applied  to  old  offenders  by  the  court  of  assizes. 
The  law  concerning  imprisonment  is  a  remnant  of 
the  dark  ages,  which  is  not  only  stupid  but  has  also 
the  rare  merit  of  being  useless,  for  it  is  never  able 
to  reach  criminals.  (See  Lost  Illusions.} 

"It  is  to  save  Lucien  from  embarrassment,"  said 
the  Spaniard  to  Esther. 

"We  are  sixty  thousand  francs  in  debt,  and  with 
these  three  hundred  thousand  francs  perhaps  we 
may  clear  ourselves. " 

Having  antedated  these  bills  of  exchange  by  six 
months,  Carlos  had  them  drawn  on  Esther  by  a  man 
who  was  still  unfathomed  by  the  police,  and  whose 
adventures,  in  spite  of  the  excitement  they  had  at 
first  aroused,  had  been  quickly  forgotten,  drowned 
as  they  were  by  the  uproar  of  the  mighty  symphony 
of  July,  1830. 

This  young  man,  one  of  the  most  bare-faced  of 
swindlers,  son  of  a  bailiff  of  Boulogne,  near  Paris, 
was  named  Georges-Marie  Destourny.  The  father, 
forced  to  sell  his  office  on  account  of  business  re- 
verses,left  his  son,  in  1824,  without  resources  of  any 
kind,  except  for  the  brilliant  education  that  small 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  22$ 

tradesmen  take  a  foolish  delight  in  bestowing  upon 
their  children.  At  twenty-three,  the  young  and 
gifted  law  student  had  already  abjured  his  father 
by  writing  his  name  thus  on  his  cards : 

GEORGES  D'ESTOURNY. 

This  card  lent  him  a  flavor  of  aristocracy.  The 
young  dandy  had  the  audacity  to  keep  a  tilbury 
and  groom,  and  to  haunt  the  clubs.  His  story  needs 
but  a  word :  he  had  become  the  confidant  of  several 
women  of  doubtful  character,  and  did  business  at 
the  Stock  Exchange  with  their  money.  At  length 
he  came  to  grief  with  the  police,  and  was  indicted 
for  using  cards  that  were  suspiciously  lucky.  He 
had  accomplices,  young  men  whom  he  had  led  astray, 
devoted  slaves,  the  sharers  of  his  fashion  and  his 
credit  Compelled  to  flee,  he  neglected  to  pay  his 
balance  at  the  Exchange.  All  Paris,  the  Paris  of 
robbers  and  clubs,  of  boulevards  and  manufactures, 
was  shaken  by  his  double  misdemeanor. 

In  the  days  of  his  glory  Georges  d'Estourny, 
handsome,  kindhearted  and  generous  as  a  highway- 
man, had  maintained  la  Torpille  for  several  months. 
The  counterfeit  Spaniard  based  his  calculations  on 
Esther's  acquaintance  with  the  famous  blackleg — 
an  accident  peculiar  to  women  of  her  class. 

Georges  d'Estourny,  whose  ambition  grew  bolder 
with  success,  had  taken  under  his  protection  a  man 
who  had  come  from  a  remote  corner  of  some  de- 
partment to  do  business  at  Paris,  and  whom  the 


224  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

Liberal  party  wished  to  indemnify  for  the  fines  he 
had  courageously  incurred  during  the  struggle  of 
the  press  against  the  government  of  Charles  X.,  the 
persecution  of  which  had  slackened  under  the  Mar- 
tignac  ministry.  It  was  then  that  they  had  par- 
doned Sieur  Cerizet,  the  responsible  newspaper 
editor,  who  was  surnamed  Cerizet  the  fearless. 

But  Cerizet,  outwardly  patronized  by  the  chief 
Radicals  on  the  Left,  engaged  in  an  occupation 
which  combined  the  qualities  of  business  agency, 
bank  and  commission  house  alike.  His  position  in 
the  business  world  recalled  the  servants  who  adver- 
tised in  Petites  Affiches,  representing  themselves 
perfectly  qualified  for  everything.  Cerizet  was  de- 
lighted to  ally  himself  with  Georges  d'Estourny, 
who  thenceforth  became  the  director  of  his  steps. 

By  virtue  of  the  anecdote  concerning  Ninon, 
Esther  must  pass  for  the  faithful  guardian  of  a  por- 
tion of  Georges  d'Estourny's  fortune.  An  endorse- 
ment in  blank,  signed  "Georges  d'Estourny,"  ren- 
dered Carlos  Herrera  master  of  the  sums  he  had 
created.  The  danger  of  this  forgery  ceased  the 
instant  that  either  Mademoiselle  Esther,  or  some- 
body else  on  her  account,  could  or  should  pay. 

After  he  had  made  careful  inquiries  in  regard  to 
the  business  house  of  Cerizet,  Carlos  understood  the 
man  to  be  an  obscure  personage  determined  to 
make  his  fortune — but  lawfully.  Cerizet,  who  was 
d'Estourny's  real  backer,  held  as  security  certain 
important  sums  then  involved  in  speculations  at  the 
Exchange,  which  gave  him  what  title  he  had  to  call 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  22$ 

himself  a  "banker."  All  this  takes  place  at  Paris; 
for  though  people  may  despise  a  man,  nobody  can 
despise  his  money. 

Carlos  went  to  see  Cerizet  with  the  intention  of 
making  use  of  him  for  his  own  purposes ;  for  by 
good  fortune  he  had  come  into  possession  of  all  the 
secrets  of  this  worthy  associate  of  d'Estourny. 

The  courageous  Cerizet  dwelt  on  the  entresol 
of  a  house  in  the  rue  du  Gros-Chenet,  and  Carlos, 
who  had  himself  mysteriously  announced  as  an 
envoy  on  behalf  of  Georges  d'Estourny,  surprised 
the  so-called  banker,  still  pale  with  alarm  at  the 
message.  The  priest  found  in  the  modest  office  a 
small  man  with  thin,  fair  hair,  and  recognized  from 
Lucien's  description  the  Judas  of  David  Sechard. 

"Can  we  talk  here  with  no  danger  of  being  over- 
heard?" said  the  Spaniard,  who  had  been  suddenly 
metamorphosed  into  an  Englishman  with  red  hair 
and  blue  spectacles,  neat  and  proper  as  a  Puritan  on 
his  way  to  meeting. 

"And  why,  sir?"  inquired  Cerizet  "Who  are 
you?" 

"M.  William  Barker,  creditor  of  M.  d'Estourny; 
but  since  you  desire  it  I  will  show  you  the  need 
of  closing  your  doors.  We  are  well  aware,  sir,  what 
your  relations  are  with  the  Petit-Clauds,  the  Coin- 
tets,  and  the  Sechards  of  Angoule"me." 

At  these  words  Cerizet  sprang  to  the  door,  shut 
it,  and  dashing  to  another  door  which  opened  into 
a  bed-room,  bolted  that  too;  then  he  said  to  the 
stranger,  "Not  so  loud,  sir!" 
15 


226  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

He  gazed  at  the  sham  Englishman  intently  as  he 
said,  "What  do  you  want  of  me?" 

"Lord  bless  you,  sir!"  answered  William  Barker, 
"every  man  for  himself  in  this  world.  You  have 
in  your  possession  the  funds  of  that  fool  d'Estourny. 
Don't  be  alarmed ;  I  haven't  come  to  demand  them 
of  you ;  but,  upon  my  pressing  him,  that  rascal,  who 
richly  deserves  the  gallows — this  is  between  you 
and  me — has  given  me  these  bills,  telling  me  that 
there  was  a  chance  of  raising  money  upon  them; 
and  as  I  don't  wish  to  pursue  the  business  in  my 
own  name,  he  told  me  that  you  would  not  refuse  me 
yours." 

Cerizet  examined  the  bills  of  exchange;  then  he 
said,  "But  he's  no  longer  at  Frankfort" 

"I  know  it,"  answered  Barker;  "but  he  might 
have  been  there  at  the  date  of  these  drafts. ' 

"But  I  don't    care  to  be  responsible,"    said 
Cerizet 

"I  don't  ask  such  a  sacrifice  of  you,"  replied 
Barker;  "but  you  can  accept  them.  If  you  receipt 
them  and  the  drafts,  I'll  see  to  their  being  cashed." 

"I  am  amazed  to  see  d'Estourny  so  suspicious  of 
me,"  observed  Cerizet 

"In  his  position,"  answered  Barker,  "you  can't 
blame  him  for  placing  his  eggs  in  more  than  one 
basket" 

"Do  you  think  so?"  inquired  the  petty  man  of 
business,  handing  to  the  sham  Englishman  the  bills 
of  exchange  properly  endorsed. 

"I  know  that  you  keep  his  funds  carefully,"  said 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  227 

Barker ;  "  I  am  sure  of  it !  They  are  at  this  moment 
lying  on  the  gaming-table  of  the  Exchange." 

"My  fortune  depends  upon — " 

"Upon  losing  them  —  ostensibly,"  interrupted 
Barker. 

"Sir!"  cried  C^rizet 

"Stop,  my  dear  Monsieur  Cerizet,"  said  Barker 
coldly,  interrupting  Cerizet,  "you  have  done  me  a 
service  in  expediting  this  payment  Be  so  kind  as 
to  write  me  a  letter  in  which  you  say  that  you 
return  me  these  receipted  bills  on  behalf  of  d'Es- 
tourny,  and  that  the  prosecuting  sheriff  is  to  con- 
sider the  bearer  of  the  letter  as  the  possessor  of 
these  three  drafts." 

"Will  you  tell  me  your  names?" 

"No  name!"  replied  the  English  capitalist 
"Write:  'The  bearer  of  this  letter  and  of  the  bills.1 
You  shall  be  well  paid  for  your  services." 

"How?"  demanded  Cerizet 

"To  be  brief,  you  remain  in  France,  don't  you?" 

"Yes,  sir." 

"Well,  Georges  d'Estourny  will  never  enter 
France  again." 

"Why?" 

"To  my  certain  knowledge  there  are  more  than 
five  persons  who  are  ready  to  murder  him,  and  he 
knows  it" 

"I  am  no  longer  surprised  that  he  writes  me  for 
money  to  embark  on  a  venture  in  the  Indies!" 
exclaimed  Cerizet  "And  unfortunately  he  has 
obliged  me  to  invest  everything  in  government 


228  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

bonds.  We  are  already  in  debt  to  the  house  of  Du 
Tillet  for  the  balance  of  sundry  accounts.  I  live 
from  hand  to  mouth." 

"Try  to  get  out  of  your  scrape." 

"Ah,  if  I  had  only  known  this  sooner!"  cried 
Cerizet  "I  have  missed  my  fortune." 

"One  last  word!"  said  Barker.  "Discretion!  You 
are  capable  of  that;  but  there  is  another  quality  less 
certain — fidelity.  We  shall  meet  again,  and  I  shall 
make  your  fortune." 

After  having  cast  this  wretch  a  hope  well  calcu- 
lated to  insure  his  discretion  for  a  long  time  to  come, 
Carlos,  still  disguised  as  Barker,  called  upon  a 
sheriff,  on  whom  he  could  count,  and  charged  him  to 
procure  a  definitive  judgment  against  Esther.  ' '  They 
are  sure  to  pay,"  said  he  to  the  sheriff;  "it's  an 
affair  of  honor ;  we  simply  wish  to  proceed  accord- 
ing to  rule." 

Barker  made  arrangements  that  Mademoiselle 
Esther  should  be  represented  before  the  Tribunal 
of  Commerce  by  an  attorney,  in  order  that  judg- 
ment might  be  made  after  the  hearing  of  both 
parties.  The  sheriff,  who  had  orders  to  act  court- 
eously, made  a  copy  of  all  the  acts  of  procedure,  and 
went  in  person  to  attach  the  furniture  in  the  Rue 
Taitbout,  where  he  was  received  by  Europe.  The 
sentence  of  arrest  for  debt  once  promulgated,  Esther 
was  apparently  at  the  mercy  of  three  hundred  and 
odd  thousand  francs  of  indisputable  debts. 

This  step  did  not  call  upon  Carlos  for  great  inven- 
tive power.  This  vaudeville  of  false  debts  is  very 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  22Q 

often  played  in  Paris.  There  live  subordinates  to 
Gobseck  and  to  Gigonnet,  who,  in  consideration  of  a 
percentage,  lend  themselves  to  this  quibble,  for  they 
make  a  joke  of  this  scandalous  trick.  In  Paris  all 
things  are  done  in  jest,  even  crimes.  Thus  they 
fleece  recalcitrant  relations  or  niggardly  passions 
which  yield  to  flagrant  necessity  or  pretended  dis- 
honor. Maxime  de  Trailles  had  many  times  made 
use  of  this  method  derived  from  comedies  of  the  old 
school.  Only  Carlos  Herrera,  who  wished  to  save 
the  honor  of  his  cloth  and  keep  Lucien's  reputation 
untarnished,  had  recourse  to  a  forgery  in  which 
there  is  no  danger,  and  the  practice  of  which  is 
still  rousing  the  indignation  of  the  law. 

In  the  neighborhood  of  the  Palais  Royal  there  is, 
I  am  told,  an  exchange  for  these  forged  bills,  where 
any  man  may  purchase  a  signature  for  three  francs. 

Before  entering  upon  the  problem  of  the  three 
hundred  thousand  francs  destined  to  stand  guard 
before  the  bed-chamber,  Carlos  determined  that 
M.  de  Nucingen  should  pay  him  an  extra  hundred 
thousand  francs  at  the  start  This  was  his  plan : 

By  his  orders  Asia  posed  before  the  infatuated 
baron  as  an  old  woman  in  the  confidence  of  the  fair 
unknown.  Even  down  to  the  present  day  painters 
of  manners  have  brought  upon  the  scene  many  men 
in  the  guise  of  usurers ;  but  they  have  forgotten  the 
woman  usurer,  the  Madame  la  Resource  of  to-day,  a 
singularly  curious  personage,  called  by  the  polite 
world  tine  dealer  in  cast-off  finery.  This  part  was 
well  suited  to  the  fierce  Asia,  who  owned  two 


230  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

establishments,  one  at  the  Temple,  and  the  other 
in  the  Rue  Neuve  Saint  Marc ;  both  managed  by 
women  of  her  own  choice. 

"You  must  assume  the  character  of  Madame  de 
Saint  Esfeve,"  he  said  to  her. 

Herrera  wished  to  see  Asia  in  her  disguise.  The 
sham  procuress  was  attired  in  a  gown  of  flowered 
damask,  remade  from  the  old  curtains  of  some 
boudoir  attached  for  debt  Over  her  shoulders  was 
spread  one  of  those  old-fashioned  cashmere  shawls, 
too  threadbare  to  have  a  market  price, that  end  their 
lives  on  the  back  of  women  such  as  she.  She  wore  a 
collar  of  handsome  lace,  frayed  at  the  edges,  and  a 
hideous  hat;  her  feet  were  encased  in  Irish-leather 
shoes,  above  which  protruded  her  fat  legs,  clad  in 
black  silk  open-work  stockings. 

"See  the  buckle  of  my  belt!"  she  exclaimed, 
pointing  to  the  doubtful  jeweled  clasp  of  a  girdle 
which  stood  out  in  front  of  her  large  vulgar  per- 
son. "What  style!  And  the  whole  effect — how 
charmingly  ugly  it  makes  me !  Oh !  Mame  Nouris- 
son  has  given  just  the  right  swagger  to  my  dress." 

"Be  sweet  as  honey,"  said  Carlos;  "be  almost 
timid,  and  suspicious  as  a  cat;  above  all  make  the 
baron  blush  for  having  made  use  of  the  police,  with- 
out seeming  to  be  in  the  least  afraid  of  its  agents. 
Finally  give  him  practically  to  understand  in  terms 
more  or  less  clear  that  you  defy  all  the  police  in  the 
world  to  discover  the  prize.  Cover  your  traces 
well.  When  the  baron  becomes  so  familiar  that 
you  can  slap  him  on  the  stomach  and  call  him  'fat 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE 

rascal,'  grow  insolent  and  make  him  step  about 
like  a  lackey." 

After  a  warning  from  the  procuress  that  any 
appeal  to  the  police  would  destroy  his  chances  of 
ever  seeing  her  again,  Nucingen  caught  sight  of 
Asia  as  he  made  his  way  afoot  to  the  Bourse.  She 
was  sitting  mysteriously  in  a  wretched  shop  in 
the  Rue  Nueve  Saint  Marc.  How  many  times  have 
amorous  millionaires  trod  these  muddy  byways,  and 
with  what  delight,  the  Paris  pavements  know! 
Madame  de  Saint  Esteve  aroused  despair,  then  hope, 
and  played  each  against  the  other.  The  baron 
desired  to  learn  every  particular  in  regard  to  his 
beloved  at  any  price. 

During  all  this  time  the  sheriff  was  not  idle,  and 
advanced  all  the  faster  because,  in  the  absence  of 
all  opposition  on  Esther's  part,  he  acted  within  the 
time  prescribed  by  law,  without  a  delay  of  even 
twenty-four  hours. 

Lucien,  under  the  escort  of  his  mentor,  paid  five 
or  six  visits  to  the  recluse  at  Saint  Germain.  The 
brutal  contriver  of  these  machinations  had  con- 
sidered these  interviews  necessary  to  prevent 
Esther's  beauty  from  fading;  for  her  beauty  was 
his  capital.  No  sooner  had  they  emerged  from  the 
keeper's  lodge  than  the  priest  led  Lucien  and  the 
poor  courtesan  to  a  spot  beside  an  untraveled  road, 
where  there  was  a  view  of  Paris,  and  where  they 
could  not  be  overheard.  As  the  sun  rose,  all  three 
sat  down  upon  the  trunk  of  a  fallen  poplar  and 
looked  at  the  landscape,  one  of  the  most  splendid  in 


232  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

the  world,  embracing  the  course  of  the  Seine,  Mont- 
martre,  Paris  and  Saint  Denis. 

"My  children,"  said  Carlos,  "your  dream  is 
dreamed.  You,  my  sweet,  will  never  again  see 
Lucien ;  or,  if  you  should  see  him,  it  can  only  be  as 
if  you  had  known  him  five  years  ago  for  a  very  few 
days." 

"So  death  has  come  to  me!"  she  said,  without 
shedding  a  single  tear. 

"It's  five  years  since  you  were  taken  ill,"  replied 
Herrera.  "Call  yourself  a  consumptive  and  die 
without  bothering  us  with  your  lamentations.  But 
you  will  see  that  you  can  live  yet,  and  happily  too! 
Leave  us,  Lucien;  go  and  cull  a  few  sonnets,"  said 
he,  pointing  to  a  field  a  few  steps  away. 

Lucien  cast  upon  Esther  an  imploring  glance,  a 
glance  peculiar  to  men  at  once  feeble  and  covetous, 
of  tender  heart  and  cowardly  character.  Esther 
answered  by  a  nod  which  meant:  "I  am  about  to 
listen  to  the  headsman  and  learn  how  I  must  place 
my  head  beneath  the  axe.  I  shall  have  the  courage 
to  die  well."  Her  gesture  was  so  lovely,  yet  so 
full  of  horror  that  the  poet  wept ;  Esther  sprang  to 
him,  clasped  him  in  her  arms,  drank  the  tear  upon 
his  cheek,  and  whispered,  ' '  Don't  be  afraid. "  One 
of  those  sentences  spoken  with  the  gesture,  the 
glance  and  the  tone  of  delirium. 

Carlos  made  his  explanation  concise  and  without 
ambiguity.  He  painted  with  fiercely  characteristic 
words  Lucien's  critical  situation,  his  footing  in  the 
Grandlieu  household,  his  splendid  fortune  in  case 


THE  WAY  THAT  GIRLS  LOVE  233 

of  success,  and  lastly,  the  necessity  for  Esther  to 
sacrifice  herself  for  his  glorious  future. 

"What  must  1  do?"  she  cried  frantically. 

"Obey  me  blindly,"  replied  Carlos,  "and  of 
what  have  you  a  right  to  complain  ?  It  only  rests 
with  you  to  ensure  yourself  a  happy  lot  Like 
your  old  friends,  Tullia,  Florine,  Mariette,  la  Val- 
Noble,  you  must  become  the  mistress  of  a  rich  man 
whom  you  do  not  love.  Our  plans  once  fulfilled, 
your  lover  is  rich  enough  to  make  you  happy." 

"Happy!"  said  she,  raising  her  eyes  toward 
heaven. 

"You  have  had  four  years  of  paradise.  Can  you 
not  live  on  such  memories?" 

"I  shall  obey  you,"  she  answered,  drying  the 
tears  in  the  corners  of  her  eyes.  "You  needn't 
feel  disturbed  for  my  fate.  As  you  have  said,  my 
love  is  a  mortal  illness." 

"That  is  not  all,"  continued  Carlos;  "you  must 
still  be  beautiful.  At  twenty-two  years  and  a  half, 
thanks  to  your  good  fortune,  you  are  at  the  highest 
point  of  your  beauty.  Lastly,  above  all  else,  become 
la  Torpille  once  more.  Be  light-hearted,  prodigal, 
crafty,  with  no  pity  for  the  millionaire  whom  I  shall 
give  to  you.  Listen  to  me :  the  man  is  a  robber  of 
well-lined  purses;  he  has  been  without  compassion 
for  multitudes  of  people ;  he  has  grown  fat  on  the 
fortunes  of  the  widow  and  the  orphan ;  you  shall 
be  their  revenge.  Asia  will  come  for  you  in  a  cab, 
and  to-night  you  will  be  in  Paris.  To  allow  the 
slightest  suspicion  of  your  four  years'  love  for 


234  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

Lucien  to  escape  would  be  to  discharge  a  pistol  into 
his  brain.  You  will  be  asked  what  became  of  you. 
You  will  answer  that  you  have  been  traveling  with 
an  excessively  jealous  Englishman.  You  used  to 
have  wit  enough  to  carry  off  a  hoax,  and  you  must 
try  to  get  it  back  again." 

Have  you  ever  seen  a  dazzling  kite,  the  giant 
butterfly  of  childhood, all  sparkling  with  gold,  hover- 
ing in  mid-air  ?  For  an  instant  the  children  forget 
the  string,  a  passer-by  cuts  it,and,in  college  phrase, 
gives  the  meteor  its  head ;  the  kite  falls  with  terrific 
rapidity.  Such  was  Esther  after  listening  to  Carlos. 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN 


PART  SECOND 

HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN 
* 

Almost  every  day  for  a  week  Nucingen  made  his 
way  to  the  shop  in  the  Rue  Neuve  Saint  Marc  to 
bargain  for  the  delivery  of  the  woman  he  loved. 
There,  at  one  time  under  the  title  of  Saint  Esteve, 
at  another  under  the  name  of  her  creature,  Madame 
Nourisson,  Asia  sat  enthroned  among  a  medley  of 
splendid  garments,  worn  to  that  unpleasing  stage  in 
which  gowns  are  no  longer  gowns,  and  yet  have  not 
become  rags.  The  frame  was  in  harmony  with  the 
picture  which  this  woman  presented,  for  shops  of 
this  kind  are  one  of  the  most  sinister  peculiarities 
of  Paris.  Here  the  stranger  sees  heaps  of  old 
clothes  which  death  has  tossed  down  with  his  flesh- 
less  hand ;  he  hears  the  death-rattle  of  a  consump- 
tive echoing  from  the  folds  of  a  shawl,  and  pictures 
the  anguish  of  poverty  hidden  under  a  gown  stitched 
with  gold.  Fearful  struggles  between  luxury  and 
hunger  have  left  their  mark  upon  the  fluttering 
laces.  It  is  easy  to  imagine  the  face  of  a  queen 
beneath  a  plumed  turban,  which  from  its  position 
vividly  recalls  the  features  of  its  former  owner.  It 
is  the  hideous  in  the  beautiful !  The  scourge  of 
(237) 


238  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

Juvenal,  wielded  by  the  official  hand  of  the  appraiser, 
scatters  the  moth-eaten  muff  and  the  scarred  furs 
of  poor  girls  who  parted  with  them  in  their  last 
extremity.  It  is  a  heap  of  faded  flowers  where,  here 
and  there,  are  still  to  be  seen  the  roses  of  yesterday 
that  were  worn  but  for  an  hour ;  on  its  top  always 
crouches  the  hag  Opportunity,  the  cousin-german 
of  Usury, bald, toothless  and  eager  to  sell  the  shell, 
so  often  has  she  sold  the  kernel ;  the  gown  with- 
out the  woman,  or  the  woman  without  the  gown ! 
Asia  sat  there  like  the  turnkey  of  a  prison,  like  a 
vulture  with  bloody  beak  in  a  field  of  dead  bodies, 
exulting  in  her  element;  more  frightful  than  the 
gross  horrors  about  her,  which  make  the  passer  in 
the  street  shudder,  as  he  recognizes  with  amazement 
one  of  his  earliest  and  purest  keepsakes  hung  in 
a  filthy  window,  behind  which  is  grimacing  a  true 
specimen  of  the  retired  Saint  Esteve  order.  Grow- 
ing more  and  more  exasperated,  and  advancing  from 
one  ten  thousand  francs  to  another,  the  baron  had 
eventually  offered  sixty  thousand  francs  to  Madame 
de  Saint  Esteve,  who  only  answered  with  a  grinning 
refusal  that  would  have  made  a  baboon  despair. 
After  a  restless  night,  in  which  he  had  recognized 
the  great  disorder  into  which  thoughts  of  Esther 
had  thrown  his  mind  and  after  realizing  unexpected 
profits  at  the  Stock  Exchange,  he  arrived,  one 
morning,  fully  decided  to  pay  the  hundred  thousand 
francs  demanded  by  Asia;  but  he  was  determined 
to  extract  a  vast  quantity  of  information  from 
her. 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN         239 

"So  you've  made  up  your  mind,  my  fat  friend?" 
said  Asia,  tapping  him  on  the  shoulder. 

The  most  ignominious  familiarity  that  exists  is 
the  first  tax  that  women  of  this  kind  extort  from  the 
unchecked  passions  or  the  woes  that  have  been 
confided  to  them ;  they  never  rise  to  the  height  of 
their  client,  they  drag  him  down  to  sit  side  by  side 
with  them  on  their  mud-heap.  Asia  surely  was  a 
pattern  of  obedience  to  her  master. 

"I  musdt,"  replied  Nucingen. 

"And  you  are  not  robbed,"  added  Asia. 
"Women  have  been  sold  much  dearer  than  the 
one  you  have  to  pay  for  now — relatively.  There 
are  women  and  women.  De  Marsay  gave  sixty 
thousand  francs  for  the  sake  of  Coral ie,  who  is  dead 
now.  The  woman  you  desire  cost  a  hundred  thou- 
sand francs  originally ;  but  for  you,  you  old  rascal, 
it's  a  mere  trifle." 

"Put  vere  ees  zhe?" 

"Ah!  you  shall  see  her.  I  am  like  you :  give  and 
take.  Ah !  my  friend,  your  passion  has  led  you  into 
folly.  These  girls!  it's  hardly  fair.  At  this  moment 
the  princess  is  what  we  call  a  'beauty  of  the 
night'  " 

"Eine  peaudy!" 

"Come,  don't  be  a  ninny.  She  has  Louchard  on 
her  track;  I  have  lent  her  fifty  thousand  francs 
myself." 

"Dventy-vife,  you  mean!"  exclaimed  the  banker. 

' '  Great  heaven !  Twenty-five  for  fifty,  of  course, ' ' 
replied  Asia.  "That  woman,  to  do  her  justice, 


240  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

is  honesty  itself;  she  had  nothing  but  herself. 
She  said  to  me,  'Dear  Madame  Saint  Esteve,  I  am 
hunted  down,  you  alone  can  help  me;  give  me 
twenty  thousand  francs  and  I  will  mortgage  my 
heart  to  you. '  Oh !  what  a  lovely  heart  she  has ! 
None  but  I  know  where  she  is.  The  slightest 
indiscretion  would  cost  me  my  twenty  thousand 
francs.  Formerly  she  used  to  live  in  the  Rue 
Taitbout  Before  she  left,  her  furniture  was 
attached  for  the  expenses.  Those  thieves  of 
bailiffs!  You  know  what  they  are,  you,  who  are 
a  power  in  the  Exchange.  But  as  I  was  saying,  she 
wasn't  stupid;  she  rented  her  apartment  for  two 
months  to  an  English  woman,  a  beauty,  who  had  that 
little  numskull,  Rubempre,  for  a  lover,  and  he  was 
so  jealous  that  he  never  allowed  her  out  of  the  house 
except  at  night  But  since  the  furniture  is  to  be 
sold, the  Englishwoman  has  packed  up  and  left — for, 
besides,  she  was  much  too  expensive  a  luxury  for  a 
little  tomtit  like  Lucien." 

"You  to  ein  panking  pizness, "  remarked  Nucin- 
gen. 

"Naturally,"  said  Asia,  "I  lend  money  to  pretty 
women.  It  pays  me,  for  I  get  a  double  percentage." 

Asia  was  delighted  to  caricature  the  part  of  those 
women  who,  however  acrid  they  might  be,  were  yet 
more  insinuating  and  more  gentle  than  she,  and  seek 
to  justify  their  trade  by  excuses  overflowing  with 
the  most  charitable  motives.  Asia  posed  as  a 
woman  bereft  of  her  illusions,  her  five  lovers  and 
her  children,  who,  in  spite  of  her  experience,  allowed 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN         241 

herself  to  be  "robbed"  by  everybody.  From  time  to 
time  she  paraded  certificates  issued  by  the  Mont  de 
Piete  in  order  to  display  the  luckless  chances  to 
which  her  business  was  subject  She  represented  her- 
self as  bent  beneath  a  load  of  debt,  and  to  complete  her 
sorrows  she  was  so  unaffectedly  hideous  that  the  baron 
ended  by  believing  her  the  person  she  claimed  to  be. 

"Very  veil,  eef  I  bay  ze  hundert  tausent  vrancs, 
vere  zhall  I  zee  her?"  said  he  with  the  gesture  of  a 
man  whose  mind  is  resolved  for  every  sacrifice. 

"In  that  case,  my  fat  friend,  you  will  come  this 
very  night  in  your  carriage  and  stop  opposite  the 
Gymnase;  that's  the  way,"  said  Asia.  "You  will 
stop  at  the  corner  of  the  Rue  Sainte  Barbe.  I  shall 
be  there  on  the  watch ;  we  shall  go  on  together  and 
find  my  black-haired  mortgage.  Ah!  what  lovely 
hair  my  mortgage  has!  Esther  has  but  to  take 
out  her  comb  and  she  is  covered  from  head  to  foot. 
Even  if  you  do  know  figures,  you  look  stupid  enough 
about  everything  else.  I  advise  you  to  stow  the  girl 
away,  for  they  will  shut  her  up  at  Sainte  Pelagie 
without  delay  the  day  after  they  find  her,  and  they 
are  searching  now." 

"Vould  eet  pe  bossible  to  puy  pack  ze  trafts?" 
inquired  the  incorrigible  lynx. 

"The  sheriff  has  them,  but  they  can't  be  secured 
now.  The  child  was  carried  away  by  a  foolish 
infatuation,  and  ran  through  a  sum  which  had  been 
entrusted  to  her  charge  and  which  she  is  now  asked 
to  return.  She  is  only  twenty-two,  and  a  little 
foolish  still." 
16 


242  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

"Gut!  gut!  I  vill  zee  to  eet,"  said  Nucingen, 
assuming  his  shrewdest  air.  " Eet  ees  veil  unter- 
zdood  zat  I  zhall  pe  her  brodecdor. " 

' '  Ah,  you  fat  rascal !  To  make  her  love  you  is 
your  own  affair,  and  you  have  means  enough  to  buy 
a  make-believe  love  that  is  almost  as  good  as  if  it 
were  real.  I  put  the  princess  in  your  hands;  she 
must  follow  you,  and  I  shan't  worry  about  the  rest. 
But  she  is  accustomed  to  luxury  and  the  utmost 
attention.  Ah,  my  boy,  she's  everything  that  a 
woman  should  be.  Had  she  not  been,  do  you  sup- 
pose that  I  should  have  lent  her  twenty  thousand 
francs?" 

"Zo  zen,  eet  ees  a  pargain.     Zis  efening!" 

The  baron  arrayed  himself  once  more  in  the 
bridal  attire  which  he  had  donned  on  a  former 
occasion.  This  time  the  certainty  of  success  made 
him  double  his  powders  and  his  perfumes.  At  nine 
o'clock  he  met  the  detestable  woman  at  the  appointed 
place  and  took  her  into  his  carriage. 

"Vere?"  demanded  the  baron. 

"Where?"  replied  Asia.  "  In  the  Rue de  la  Perle 
at  the  Marais,  an  address  to  fit  the  circumstances. 
For  your  pearl  is  in  the  mire,  but  you'll  wash  her, 
won't  you?" 

When  they  had  arrived  at  the  place  indicated  by 
this  direction,  the  counterfeit  Madame  de  Saint 
Esteve  said  to  Nucingen  with  an  ugly  grin : 

"We  must  go  a  few  steps  further  afoot  I  was  not 
fool  enough  to  give  you  the  right  address." 

"You  rememper  eferyting,"  replied  Nucingen, 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN         243 

"  It's  my  trade,"  she  answered. 

Asia  guided  Nucingen  to  the  Rue  Barbette,  whence 
he  was  conducted  to  the  fourth  story  of  a  furnished 
house  occupied  by  an  upholsterer  of  the  district 
When  he  beheld,  in  the  midst  of  a  poverty- 
stricken  room,  Esther  in  the  dress  of  a  working- 
woman,  toiling  over  a  piece  of  embroidery,  the 
millionaire  grew  pale.  At  the  end  of  a  quarter  of 
an  hour,  during  which  Asia  appeared  to  be  engaged 
in  a  whispered  conversation  with  Esther, the  young- 
old  man  could  scarcely  speak. 

"Montemisselle, "  he  stammered  finally  to  the 
poor  girl,  "vill  you  haf  ze  gutness  to  aczept  me  vor 
your  brotecdor?" 

"I  must  perforce,  sir,"  said  Esther,  while  two  big 
tears  slipped  from  her  eyes. 

"Ton't  gry.  I  vish  to  renter  you  ze  habbiest  of 
voomankint  Only  luff  me  ant  you  vill  fmt  dis 
ees  zo. " 

"But,  my  pet,  the  gentleman  is  reasonable, "  said 
Asia;  "he  is  well  aware  that  he  is  past  sixty,  and 
he  will  be  very  indulgent  Look  up,  my  sweet 
angel,  it  is  a  father  I  have  brought  you. ' ' 

"I  must  tell  her  so,"  whispered  Asia  in  the  ear 
of  the  ill-contented  banker.  "You  can't  catch 
swallows  by  fir  ing  pistols.  Come  this  way,"  added 
Asia,  as  she  led  Nucingen  into  the  next  room. 
"You  remember  our  little  agreement,  my  cherub?" 

Nucingen  drew  a  pocket-book  from  his  coat  and 
counted  out  the  hundred  thousand  francs,  while 
Carlos,  who  was  hidden  in  a  closet,  waited  with 


244  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

lively  impatience  until  Asia  placed  them  in  his 
hands. 

"Here  are  a  hundred  thousand  francs  that  our 
man  has  invested  in  Asia;  now  we  are  going  to  in- 
duce him  to  invest  as  many  in  Europe,"  said  Carlos 
to  his  accomplice,  as  they  stood  on  the  stairway. 

He  disappeared  after  having  given  his  instructions 
to  Asia,  who  returned  to  the  room  where  Esther  sat, 
weeping  hot  tears.  Like  a  criminal  condemned  to 
death,  the  child  had  spun  for  herself  a  romance  of 
hope,  and  now  the  fatal  hour  had  struck. 

"My  dear  children,"  said  Asia,  "where  are  you 
going?  For  the  Baron  de  Nucingen — " 

Esther  gazed  at  the  famous  banker  with  a  gesture 
of  astonishment,  admirably  counterfeited. 

"Yes,  meinchilt,  lamzeParonteNichinguenne." 

"The  Baron  de  Nucingen  must  not,  cannot  remain 
in  a  pig-sty  like  this.  Listen  to  me.  Your  old 
waiting-maid,  Eugenie — " 

"Ichenie!  of  ze  Rie  Daidpoud?"  exclaimed  the 
baron. 

"Yes,  yes;  the  legitimate  guardian  of  the  furni- 
ture," continued  Asia,  "the  person  who  leased  the 
suite  to  the  English  beauty." 

"Ach,  I  unterstant!"  said  the  baron. 

"Your  old  waiting-maid,"  continued  Asia,  with 
a  respectful  gesture  toward  Esther,  "will  be  glad  to 
receive  you  to-night;  and  the  detectives  will  never 
dream  of  searching  the  old  apartment  which  you 
left  three  months  ago." 

"Atmiraple!  atmiraple!"  cried  the  baron.     "Be- 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN         245 

zides,  I  know  ze  dedectifes  ant  I  know  ze  vorts  to 
make  zem  fanish." 

"You  will  find  Eugenie  a  sly  one,"  said  Asia. 
"It  was  I  who  gave  her  to  this  lady." 

"I  know  her  veil,"  the  baron  exclaimed  with  a 
laugh.  "Ichenie  haz  zdolen  vrom  medirdytausent 
vrancs." 

Esther  made  a  gesture  so  full  of  horror  that  an 
honest  man  would  have  staked  his  fortune  on  its 
sincerity. 

"Oh!  py  mein  own  vault,"  added  the  baron;  "I 
vas  in  bursuit  of  you,"  and  he  went  on  to  tell  the 
blunder  to  which  the  lease  of  the  apartment  to  an 
Englishwoman  had  given  rise. 

"So  you  see,  madame,"  said  Asia,  "Eugenie 
never  told  you  a  word  about  that  Ah,  she's  a  sly 
fox!  But  this  lady  has  grown  accustomed  to  the 
girl,"  she  added  to  the  baron,  "so  after  all  you  had 
better  keep  her." 

Asia  took  Nucingen  aside  and  said  to  him : 

"Five  hundred  francs  a  month  to  Eugenie,  who  is 
busy  feathering  her  nest,  and  you  will  know  every- 
thing her  mistress  does.  Let  her  be  her  maid. 
Eugenie  will  be  all  the  more  kindly  disposed  toward 
you  now  that  she  has  fleeced  you  a  bit.  No  chain 
binds  women  to  a  man  more  strongly  than  the  recol- 
lection of  having  fleeced  him.  But  keep  a  tight 
rein  on  Eugenie;  she'll  do  anything  in  the  world  for 
money;  it's  horrible!" 

"Ant  you?" 

"I,"  rejoined  Asia,  "I  repay  myself." 


246  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

Nucingen,  profound  calculator  as  he  was,  had  a 
bandage  over  his  eyes;  he  acted  like  a  child.  The 
sight  of  this  pure-minded  and  adorable  Esther,  dry- 
ing her  eyes  and  passing  her  needle  through  the 
border  of  her  embroidery  with  all  the  modesty  of  a 
guileless  maiden,  gave  once  more  to  this  infatuated 
old  man  the  sensations  which  he  had  felt  in  the 
Bois  de  Vincennes;  he  would  have  given  away  the 
key  of  his  safe;  his  youth  had  come  again;  his 
heart  was  overflowing  with  adoration,  and  he  was 
only  waiting  for  Asia's  departure  to  throw  himself 
on  his  knees  before  this  Raphael  Madonna.  This 
sudden  birth  of  childhood  in  the  heart  of  a  sly  old 
man  is  one  of  the  social  phenomena  that  physiology 
can  most  easily  explain.  The  hidden  cause  of  the 
effect  was  youth  with  all  its  sublime  illusions  that 
still  lay  hidden,  crushed  under  the  weight  of  busi- 
ness, stifled  by  ceaseless  calculation  and  the  per- 
petual pressure  of  money-getting  cares,  ready  to 
burst  into  bloom  like  a  forgotten  seed,  the  splendid 
blossoms  of  which  are  called  into  being  by  a  few 
late  gleams  of  transitory  sunlight.  At  twelve  years 
of  age,  a  clerk  in  the  old  house  of  Aldrigger,  in 
Strasbourg,  the  baron  had  never  set  foot  in  the 
world  of  sentiment  Thus  he  stood  motionless 
before  his  idol,  a  million  confused  speeches  in  his 
brain  and  not  one  upon  his  lips.  Then  the  man  of 
sixty-six  returned  and  the  baron  obeyed  a  brutal 
impulse. 

"Vill  you  gome  to  ze  Rie  Daidboud?"  said  he. 

"Where  you  will,  sir,"  answered  Esther  rising. 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN         247 

"Vere  youvill!"  repeated  he  rapturously.  "You 
are  ein  anchel  gome  town  vrom  heafen,  ant  I  luff 
you  as  eef  I  vere  ein  fery  young-  man,  aldough  I  haff 
gray  hair." 

"Ah!  you  might  as  well  call  it  white.  For 
it's  much  too  black  to  be  called  gray,"  said  Asia. 

"Pe  off,  you  file  zeller  of  human  vlesh.  You 
haff  your  money.  To  not  zlopper  ofer  zis  viewer  of 
luff,"  cried  the  banker, balancing  his  account  for  all 
the  indignities  he  had  swallowed  by  this  savage 
apostrophe. 

"You  old  blackguard,  you  shall  pay  for  your 
words!"  exclaimed  Asia,  menacing  the  banker  with 
a  gesture  worthy  of  the  fish-market,  that  made  him 
shrug  his  shoulders.  "Between  the  cup  and  the 
lip  there's  room  for  a  viper  and  there  you  shall  find 
me,"  she  added,  frenzied  by  Nucingen's  disdain. 

A  millionaire,  whose  money  is  guarded  by  the 
Bank  of  France,  whose  house  is  protected  by  a 
regiment  of  servants,and  who  himself  drives  abroad 
safely  ensconced  in  a  carriage  drawn  by  swift  Eng- 
lish horses,  fears  no  misfortune;  so  the  baron  sur- 
veyed Asia  calmly  with  the  conscious  superiority  of 
a  man  who  had  just  given  her  one  hundred  thousand 
francs. 

This  majesty  produced  its  effect  Asia  beat  her 
retreat  down  the  stairway,  grumbling  and  mutter- 
ing some  excessively  revolutionary  phrases  about  a 
scaffold. 

"What  did  you  say  to  her?"  asked  the  Virgin  of 
the  needlework.  "She's  a  good  woman." 


248  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

"Zhe  has  zolt  you,  zhe  has  sdolen  vrom  you." 

"When  a  girl  is  as  wretched  as  I,"  answered  she, 
with  an  accent  that  would  have  melted  the  heart  of 
a  diplomat,  "who  succors  or  cares  for  her?" 

"Boor  tarling!"  said Nucingen,  "tonotzday  here 
einoder  minute." 

Nucingen  gave  his  arm  to  Esther,  led  her  away 
just  as  she  was,  and  assisted  her  into  his  carriage 
with  more  respect,  perhaps,  than  he  would  have  felt 
for  the  handsome  Duchesse  de  Maufrigneuse. 

"You  zhall  haf  ein  splentit  garriage,  ze  brittiest 
in  Bar  is,"  said  Nucingen,  as  they  drove  along.  "All 
ze  telights  of  luxury  zhall  pe  pestowed  on  you. 
Eine  queen  zhall  not  pe  more  rige  zan  you.  You 
zhall  pe  resbected  like  a  Cherman  girl  avder  her 
pedrotal ;  you  shall  pe  vree.  To  not  gry.  Listen !  I 
luff  you  druly  mit  ein  bure  luff.  Efery  dear  of 
yours  bierces  mein  heard." 

"Can  a  man  love,  with  real  love,  the  woman  he 
buys?"  asked  the  poor  girl  in  an  entrancing  voice. 

"Choseff  was  solt  py  his  prothers  pecause  of  his 
firdue;  eet  zays  zo  in  ze  Piple.  Resides,  in  ze  East 
ein  man  puys  his  lechitimade  wife." 

Once  again  in  the  Rue  Taitbout  Esther  could  not 
look  upon  the  scene  of  her  past  happiness  without 
the  most  painful  emotions.  She  lay  upon  a  divan, 
motionless,  and  dried  her  tears  one  by  one  without 
hearing  a  word  of  the  passionate  phrases  of  love 
which  the  banker  poured  forth.  He  knelt  at  her 
feet;  she  gave  no  heed;  she  let  him  keep  her  hands 
when  he  took  them,  yet  she  was  ignorant,  as  it  were, 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN         249 

even  of  the  sex  of  the  creature  who  was  warming 
her  feet,  which  he  had  discovered  to  be  very  cold. 
She  continued  to  weep  burning  tears  over  the  baron's 
head,  and  he  to  rub  her  ice-cold  feet  from  midnight 
until  two  o'clock  in  the  morning. 

"Ichenie,"  said  the  baron  at  length,  summoning 
Europe,  "dry  to  eentuce  your  misdress  to  go  to 
bett" 

"No,"  cried  Esther,  springing  to  her  feet  like  a 
frightened  deer,  "never  here." 

"Wait,  sir;  I  know  my  mistress;  she  is  meek  and 
gentle  as  a  lamb,"  said  Europe  to  the  banker. 
"Only  don't  oppose  her  too  abruptly;  you  must 
influence  her  gradually.  She  has  been  so  unhappy 
here!  See  how  worn  the  furniture  is!  Let  her 
have  her  own  way.  Have  some  charming  little 
house  furnished  for  her  as  prettily  as  can  be. 
Perhaps,  when  she  sees  everything  about  her  quite 
changed  she  will  be  changed  too.  Perhaps  she  will 
think  you  better  than  you  are  and  will  be  heavenly 
sweet.  Oh !  she  has  not  her  peer !  And  you  can 
boast  of  having  made  a  most  admirable  purchase :  a 
kind  heart,  pretty  manners,  a  delicate  instep,  such 
a  complexion,  and  such  a  color !  Ah !  and  wit  to 
make  a  man  laugh  at  the  gallows'  foot  She  is 
capable  of  attachment,  too — and  how  well  she  knows 
what  becomes  her !  Then,  if  she  is  expensive,  a 
man,  as  they  say,  gets  something  for  his  money. 
Here,  all  her  gowns  are  attached,  so  her  clothes  are 
three  months  behind  the  style.  But  she  is  so  good 
that  I  love  her  myself,  though  she  is  my  mistress. 


250  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

But  try  to  be  reasonable,  and  think  what  it  is  for 
such  a  woman  as  she  to  see  herself  in  the  midst  of 
furniture  that  has  been  attached — and  for  whom? 
For  a  miserable  wretch  who  has  tossed  her  aside. 
Poor  little  woman!  she's  no  longer  herself." 

' '  Esder,  Esder, ' '  murmured  the  baron.  "  Go  to  bett, 
my  anchel.  Ah !  eef  eet  ees  I  zat  you  vear,  I  zhall  not 
zdir  vrom  zis  zova, ' '  he  cried,  burning  with  the  purest 
love  as  he  looked  at  Esther,  who  was  always  weeping. 

"Then, "  answered  Esther,  as  she  took  the  baron's 
hand  and  kissed  it  with  a  tender  expression  of 
gratitude  that  made  something  very  like  a  tear 
gather  in  the  lynx's  eye,  "I  am  very  grateful." 

And,  running  into  her  bed-room,  she  closed  the 
door  behind  her. 

"Zere  ees  zometing  inexblicable  in  dis,"  thought 
Nucingen  in  his  excitement  "Vat  vill  zey  zay  at 
home?" 

He  got  up  and  looked  out  of  the  window: 

"Mein  garriage  ees  zdill  zere.  Ze  tay  vill  preak 
zoon." 

He  walked  up  and  down  the  room. 

"How  Montame  te  Nichinguenne  vould  makevun 
of  me,  eef  zhe  zhould  efer  know  how  I  haf  bassed 
zis  night" 

He  felt  as  if  he  had  acted  foolishly,  and  pressed 
his  ear  against  the  bed-room  door. 

"Esder!" 

No  answer. 

"Mein  Gott!  zhe  ees  sdill  grying,"  said  he,  as 
he  walked  across  the  room  and  lay  down  on  the  sofa. 


Some  ten  minutes  after  sunrise  the  Baron  de 
Nucingen,  who  had  been  lying  stretched  upon  a  sofa 
in  a  restless  and  unnatural  sleep,  was  startled  by 
Europe  from  a  dream  such  as  comes  to  a  man  under 
such  circumstances,  full  of  those  swift  combinations 
that  are  one  of  the  inexplicable  phenomena  of  medi- 
cal physiology. 

' '  Ah,  heavens !' '  cried  she.  ' '  Madame !  Soldiers ! 
Gendarmes !  The  law !  They  are  going  to  arrest 
us—" 

At  the  moment  that  Esther  opened  her  door  and 
appeared,  ill-covered  by  her  dressing-gown,  her  bare 
feet  in  slippers,  her  hair  floating  loose,  so  beautiful 
that  the  angel  Raphael  would  have  lost  heaven  for 
her  sake,  five  unclean  wretches  burst  in  through  the 
parlor  door  and  advanced  toward  the  heavenly 
creature  as  she  stood  like  an  angel  in  some  religious 
picture  of  the  Flemish  school.  A  man  stepped  for- 
ward— Contenson;  the  horrid  Contenson  laid  his 
hand  on  Esther's  moist  shoulder. 

"You  are  Mademoiselle  Esther  van — "  he  said. 

With  a  single  blow  upon  Contenson's  cheek 
Europe  sent  him  sprawling  his  whole  length  on  the 
floor,  making  use  at  the  same  time  of  the  well- 
known  boxing  trick  to  administer  to  him  a  sharp 
(251) 


2$2  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

kick  in  the  legs,  known  to  those  who  practice  boxing 
in  France. 

"Back!"  she  shrieked.  "Hands  off  my  mistress!" 

"She  has  broken  my  leg,"  groaned  Contenson, 
rising  with  difficulty;  "she  shall  pay  for  it" 

From  out  of  the  mass  of  five  bailiffs,  in  bailiff's 
uniform,  with  hideous  hats  cocked  upon  their  yet 
more  hideous  heads  of  streaked  mahogany,  with 
leering  eyes,  mutilated  noses  and  grinning  mouths, 
stepped  Louchard  dressed  more  decently  than  his 
men,  but  with  his  hat  still  on  his  head  and  an 
expression  at  once  derisive  and  conciliating. 

"Mademoiselle,  1  arrest  you,"  said  he  to  Esther; 
"and  as  for  you,  woman,"  he  added,  turning  toward 
Europe,  "if  you  are  refractory  you  will  be  punished, 
and  all  resistance  is  useless." 

The  rattle  of  guns  as  their  butts  fell  upon  the 
marble  tiles  of  the  dining-room  and  hall,  announced 
that  there  was  another  force  outside,  and  lent 
emphasis  to  this  speech. 

"And  why  arrest  me?"  asked  Esther  innocently. 

"Our  little  debt,"  answered  Louchard. 

"Ah!  it's  true!"  exclaimed  Esther.  "Let  me 
'dress." 

"I  am  sorry,  mademoiselle,  but  I  must  first  make 
sure  that  you  have  no  means  of  escape  in  your  bed- 
room," said  Louchard. 

Everything  had  passed  so  rapidly  that  the  baron 
had  not  yet  had  time  to  interfere. 

"Veil, I  am  noweine  zeller  of  human  vlesh,  Paron 
te  Nichiguenne!"  cried  the  terrible  Asia,  as  she 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN         253 

glided  past  the  bailiffs  to  the  divan,  pretending  to 
be  surprised  at  discovering  the  banker  there. 

"File  wredch,"  exclaimed  Nucingen,  drawing 
himself  up  in  all  his  financial  majesty.  The  next 
instant  he  threw  himself  between  Esther  and  Lou- 
chard,  who  took  off  his  hat  at  an  exclamation  from 
Contenson. 

"Baron  de  Nucingen!" 

At  a  gesture  from  Louchard,  the  bailiffs  withdrew 
from  the  room,  uncovering  their  heads  respectfully 
as  they  went.  Contenson  alone  remained. 

"Will  you  pay,  baron?"  inquired  the  detective, 
his  hat  in  his  hand. 

"I  bay,"  answered  he,  "put  I  muss  know  vat 
eet  ees  all  apout" 

"Three  hundred  and  twelve  thousand  francs  and 
some  centimes,  expenses  paid;  but  this  does  not 
include  the  arrest" 

"Dree  huntert  tausent  vrancs!"  cried  the  baron. 
"Zat  ees  doo  tear  ein  avakening  vor  ein  man  who 
has  bassed  ze  night  on  a  zofa,"  he  added  in  a 
whisper  to  Europe. 

"Is  this  really  the  Baron  de  Nucingen?"  asked 
Europe  of  Louchard,  accentuating  her  doubt  with  a 
gesture  that  Mademoiselle  du  Pont,  the  latest  sou- 
brette  of  the  Theatre  Francais,  might  have  envied. 

"Yes,  mademoiselle,"  said  Louchard. 

"Yes,"  replied  Contenson. 

"I  anzer  vor  her,"  said  the  baron,  for  Europe's 
doubt  touched  him  in  a  sensitive  spot;  "allow  me 
to  sbeak  ein  vort  to  her." 


254  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

Esther  and  her  elderly  lover  went  into  the  bed- 
room. Louchard  thought  it  necessary  to  press  his 
ear  against  the  lock. 

"I  luff  you  petter  zan  my  life,  Esder;  put  vy  gif 
to  your  greditors  money  zat  vould  petter  fit  your 
burse  ?  Go  to  brison,  I  vill  go  ant  puy  up  zese  hun- 
tert  tausent  growns  mit  ein  huntert  tausent  vrancs 
ant  you  zhall  haf  dwo  huntert  tausent  vrancs  for 
yourzelf." 

' '  The  scheme  is  useless, ' '  cried  Louchard.  '  'The 
creditor  is  not  in  love  with  mademoiselle ! — not  he. 
You  understand  ?  He  wants  more  than  ever  since 
he  has  learned  that  you  were  at  her  feet" 

"You  vool!"  exclaimed  Nucingen  to  Louchard, 
opening  the  door  to  let  him  come  into  the  room. 
"You  don't  know  vat  you  zay;  I  vill  gif  you  dventy 
ber  zent  eef  you  vill  arranche  ze  avvair." 

"Impossible,  baron." 

"What,  sir,  have  you  the  heart  to  allow  my  mis- 
tress to  go  to  prison?"  broke  in  Europe.  "Do  you 
need  my  wages,  my  savings  ?  Take  them,  madame ; 
I  have  forty  thousand  francs." 

"Ah!  my  poor  girl,  I  have  never  known  you 
before!"  cried  Esther,  clasping  Europe  in  her  arms. 

Europe  burst  into  tears. 

"1  bay,"  said  the  baron,  piteously  drawing  out  a 
memorandum  book  whence  he  took  one  of  those 
little  squares  of  printed  paper  which  the  bank  gives 
to  bankers,  and  upon  which  they  have  but  to  fill  in 
the  desired  sum  clearly  in  figures  to  create  drafts 
payable  to  bearer. 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN         255 

"It's  no  use,  baron,"  said  Louchard;  "I  have 
orders  not  to  receive  payment  except  in  gold  and 
silver  specie;  but  since  it  is  you,  I  will  be  satis- 
fied with  bank  notes. ' ' 

"Der  tefil!"  cried  the  baron.  "Zhow  me  your 
varrants. ' ' 

Contenson  displayed  three  packages  covered  with 
blue  paper,  which  the  baron  took,  still  looking  at 
Contenson,  in  whose  ear  he  whispered : 

"You  vould  haf  tone  ein  petter  tay's  vork  py 
varning  me." 

"Eh!  did  I  know  you  were  here?"  answered  the 
detective,  indifferent  whether  Louchard  overheard 
him  or  not  "You  are  unfortunate  in  not  keeping 
me  in  your  confidence.  They  are  fleecing  you," 
added  the  profound  philosopher,  shrugging  his 
shoulders. 

"Drue,"  thought   the  baron.     "Ah!  mein   tar 
ling,"  he  added  aloud,  his  eyes   fastened  on  the 
drafts,  although  he  was  speaking  to  Esther,  "you  are 
ze  fictim  of  ein  invernal  sgountrel,  of  ein  zvintler!" 

"Oh,  God!  yes,"  said  poor  Esther,  "yet  he 
loved  me  well!" 

"Eef  I  hat  known,  I  zhould  haf  but  a  varning, 
indo  your  hants,  not  do  bay." 

"You  are  crazy,  baron,"  said  Louchard ;  "there  is 
a  second  endorsee." 

"Yes,"  he  answered,  "zere  ees  a  zegont  entorzee 
— Cerissed,  a  man  to  pe  varnt  against." 

"He  has  a  mental  disorder,  and  is  trying  to  make 
a  pun,"  said  Contenson,  smiling. 


256  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

"Will  you  write  a  line  to  your  cashier,  sir?"  said 
Louchard.  "I'll  despatch  Contenson  to  him  and  go 
myself  to  look  after  my  people.  It's  growing  late, 
and  everybody  will  know." 

"Go,  Gondenson !"  cried  Nucingen.  "Meincazhier 
lifes  on  ze  gorner  of  ze  Rie  tes  Madhirins  and  ze 
Argate.  Here  ees  an  order  zo  zat  he  shall  go  to  Ti 
Dilet  or  to  ze  Kellers',  in  gase  ve  haf  not  dree  hun- 
tret  tausent  vrancs,  vor  our  money  ees  all  at  ze 
pank.  Tress  yourzelf,  mein  anchel,"  added  he  to 
Esther,  "you  are  vree.  Olt  vomen,"  he  exclaimed, 
turning  to  Asia,  "are  more  tancherous  zan  young 
ones." 

"I  am  going  to  put  the  creditor  in  a  good  humor 
and  he  will  give  me  something  to  amuse  myself 
with  to-day, "  said  Madame  de  Saint  Esteve  to  Asia ; 
then,  with  a  mocking  bow,  added  "/  pear  no 
maleece,  paron  !  " 

Louchard  took  his  vouchers  from  the  baron's 
hands,  and  remained  alone  with  him  in  the  parlor, 
where,  half  an  hour  afterward,  the  cashier  returned, 
followed  by  Contenson.  A  moment  later  Esther  ap- 
peared in  a  dress  that  was  charming,  although  it  had 
been  so  hastily  assumed.  When  the  money  had  been 
counted  out  by  Louchard,  the  baron  desired  to  ex- 
amine the  vouchers  once  more;  but  Esther  seized 
them  with  the  quickness  of  a  cat  and  laid  them 
away  in  her  secretary. 

"What  are  you  going  to  give  to  the  rabble, 
baron?"  asked  Contenson  of  Nucingen. 

"You  haf  nod  peen  ofer  bolide,"  said  the  baron. 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN         257 

"And  what  do  you  say  to  my  leg?"  cried  Con- 
tenson. 

"Luchart,  you  vill  gif  Gondenson  huntret  vrancs 
on  ze  palance  of  ze  pill." 

"Zheees  eine  peautiful  voman !"  said  the  cashier 
to  the  Baron  de  Nucingen  as  they  left  the  Rue  Tait- 
bout;  "put  she  gosts  Mennesir  le  Paron ferry  tear." 

"Geep  my  zecret,"  said  the  baron,  who  had  also 
enjoined  secrecy  on  Contenson  and  on  Louchard. 

Louchard  went  away,  followed  by  Contenson ;  but 
Asia,  who  was  on  the  watch,  stopped  him  on  the 
street 

"The  bailiff  and  creditor  are  there  in  a  cab; 
they  are  thirsty,"  she  said,  "and  there's  grease  to 
be  had." 

While  Louchard  counted  the  bills,  Contenson  was 
at  liberty  to  examine  the  client  He  caught  sight 
of  Carlos'  eyes  and  distinguished  the  shape  of  his 
forehead  beneath  the  wig,  which  he  judged  rightly 
to  be  a  disguise ;  he  took  the  number  of  the  cab 
while  seeming  in  perfect  ignorance  of  everything 
that  went  on  about  him.  Asia  and  Europe  puzzled 
him  to  the  last  degree.  He  thought  the  baron  a 
victim  of  extraordinarily  clever  persons,  and  with 
the  more  reason  because  Louchard  had  been 
strangely  reserved  when  he  had  demanded  his 
services;  besides,  Europe's  blow  had  not  struck 
Contenson  on  the  tibia  alone. 

"That  shows  she  has  been  at  Saint-Lazare," 
said  he,  rising. 

Carlos  dismissed  the  bailiff,  paid  him  generously, 
17 


258  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

and  said  to  the  cabman  as  he  handed  him  his 
fare: 

"Drive  to  the  steps  of  the  Palais  Royal." 

"Ah!  in  the  morning?"  thought  Contenson,  who 
overheard  the  order.  "Something's  in  the  wind." 

Carlos  reached  the  Palais  Royal  at  a  pace  which 
gave  him  little  to  fear  from  followers.  Then  he 
traversed  the  galleries,  after  his  fashion,  and  taking 
a  second  cab  on  the  Place  du  Chateau-d'Eau,  gave 
his  order  to  the  coachman : 

"Passage  de  1' Opera,  on  the  side  towards  the  Rue 
Pinon." 

Fifteen  minutes  later  he  entered  the  Rue  Tait- 
bout  The  moment  that  she  saw  him,  Esther  cried 
out: 

"Here  are  the  fatal  notes!" 

Carlos  took  the  drafts,  examined  them,  and  then 
went  to  burn  them  in  the  kitchen  fire. 

"The  game  is  played!"  he  cried,  displaying  the 
three  hundred  and  ten  thousand  francs  rolled  up  in 
a  package  which  he  produced  from  the  pocket  of 
his  greatcoat  "These  and  the  hundred  thousand 
francs  that  Asia  got  out  of  him  enable  us  to  act." 

"My  God!  my  God!"  moaned  poor  Esther. 

"Fool,"  said  the  savage  calculator;  "be  but 
ostensibly  the  mistress  of  Nucingen,  and  you  will 
be  able  to  see  Lucien ;  he  is  Nucingen's  friend,  and 
I  don't  forbid  you  to  love  him." 

Esther  saw  a  faint  glimmer  of  light  through  the 
darkness  of  her  life;  she  breathed  again. 

"Europe,  my  girl,"  said  Carlos,  drawing  her  into 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN         259 

a  corner  of  the  boudoir  where  no  one  could  over- 
hear a  word  of  their  conversation,  "Europe,  I  am 
pleased  with  you." 

Europe  raised  her  head  and  looked  at  him  with 
an  expression  which  altered  her  faded  countenance 
to  such  a  degree  that  Asia,  who  was  watching  the 
scene  from  the  doorway,  wondered  whether  the 
interests  by  which  Carlos  held  Europe  might  not  be 
still  deeper  than  those  which  riveted  her  to  the 
Spaniard. 

"This  is  not  all,  my  girl.  Four  hundred  thousand 
francs  are  nothing  for  me.  Paccard  will  give  you  a 
bill  for  the  silver-plate  amounting  to  thirty  thousand 
francs,  on  which  there  are  certain  receipts  for  partial 
payments;  but  our  jeweler,  Biddin,  has  incurred 
expenses.  Our  furniture  which  was  seized  by  him 
will  doubtless  be  advertised  to-morrow.  Go  and 
see  Biddin;  he  lives  in  the  Rue  de  PArbre-Sec; 
he  will  give  you  certificates  from  the  Mont  de 
Piete  for  ten  thousand  francs.  You  understand: 
Esther  has  ordered  a  quantity  of  silver-plate  and 
has  put  it  in  pawn,  although  she  has  not  paid  for 
it;  she  will  be  threatened  with  a  trifling  indictment 
for  fraud.  Thus  the  jeweler  must  be  given  thirty 
thousand  francs  and  the  Mont  de  Piete  ten  thousand 
more  in  order  to  get  back  the  plate.  Total,  forty- 
three  thousand  francs,  including  expenses.  The 
plate  is  full  of  alloy, the  baron  will  have  it  renewed, 
and  in  this  way  we  may  be  able  to  pick  up  a  few 
thousand-franc  notes  extra.  You  owe — what  to  the 
dressmaker  for  two  years?" 


260  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

"Possibly  six  thousand  francs, "  replied  Europe. 

"Very  well ;  if  Madame  Auguste  wishes  to  be  paid 
and  to  preserve  her  custom  she  must  make  a 
memorandum  of  thirty  thousand  francs  dating  from 
four  years  ago.  The  milliner  must  do  the  same. 
The  jeweler,  Samuel  Frisch,  the  Jew  in  the  Rue 
Sainte-Avoie,  will  lend  you  promissory  notes;  we 
must  owe  him  twenty-five  thousand  francs,  and  we 
shall  have  had  six  thousand  francs  advanced  on 
our  jewels  at  the  Mont  de  Piete.  We  shall  return 
the  jewels  to  the  jeweler ;  the  stones  will  be  half 
imitation,  but  the  baron  will  never  look  at  them. 
Thus  you  will  make  our  punter  disgorge  a  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand  francs  within  a  week." 

' '  Madame  ought  to  help  me  somewhat, ' '  answered 
Europe;  "speak  to  her,  for  she  sits  there  as  though 
she  were  struck  dumb,  and  makes  me  exert  more 
wit  than  three  authors  do  in  a  play." 

"If  Esther  plays  the  prude,  tell  me,"  said  Carlos. 
"Nucingen  owes  her  a  carriage  and  pair;  she 
will  prefer  to  choose  and  buy  them  herself.  You 
must  select  the  horsedealer  and  carriagemaker  with 
whom  Paccard  lodges.  We  can  buy  handsome 
horses  of  him  at  a  high  price ;  they  will  go  lame 
within  the  month  and  then  we  can  change 
them." 

"We  might  make  six  thousand  francs  on  a  per- 
fumer's bill,"  said  Europe. 

"No!"  he  answered,  shaking  his  head,  "gogently 
on  from  one  concession  to  another.  Nucingen  has 
only  put  his  arm  in  the  machine;  we  must  have  his 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN         261 

head.  Besides  all  this  I  need  five  hundred  thousand 
francs." 

"You  can  have  them,"  replied  Europe;  "madame 
could  get  about  six  hundred  thousand  out  of  the  fat 
imbecile  by  melting  a  little  towards  him,  and  then 
ask  four  hundred  for  loving  him." 

"Listen  to  this,  child,"  said  Carlos;  "the  day 
when  I  am  in  possession  of  the  last  hundred  thou- 
sand francs,  there  will  be  twenty  thousand  francs 
for  you." 

"What  good  can  they  bring  me?"  said  Europe, 
letting  her  arms  drop  like  a  woman  for  whom  life  is 
no  longer  possible. 

"You  can  go  back  to  Valenciennes,  set  yourself 
up  handsomely  in  business  and  become  an  honest 
woman  if  you  like;  there  are  all  sorts  of  tastes  in 
the  world.  Paccard  thinks  of  it  sometimes;  there 
is  no  brand  on  his  shoulders  and  almost  none  on 
his  conscience.  You  might  suit  each  other,"  replied 
Carlos. 

"Back  to  Valenciennes!  Do  you  think  of  it, 
sir?"  cried  Europe,  startled. 

Born  at  Valenciennes,  the  daughter  of  two  poor 
weavers,  Europe  was  sent,  at  the  age  of  seven,  to  a 
cotton  manufactory,  where  modern  industry  abused 
her  physical  strength,  and  vice  degraded  her  before 
her  time.  Seduced  at  twelve  and  a  mother  at 
thirteen,  she  became  bound  to  persons  living  in  the 
depths  of  degradation.  In  a  trial  for  murder,  she 
was  summoned  as  a  witness  before  the  court  of 
assizes,  and  at  sixteen  she  was  induced,  by  a 


262  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

remnant  of  right  feeling  and  by  the  terror  that  sur- 
rounds the  law,  to  secure,  by  her  testimony,  the 
condemnation  of  the  accused  to  twenty  years  at 
hard  labor.  The  criminal,  one  of  those  men  whose 
very  natures  are  fed  by  a  passion  for  revenge  when 
they  are  beneath  the  hand  of  justice,  had  said  to 
the  child  in  the  presence  of  the  entire  court : 

"  In  ten  years,  as  now,  Prudence — Europe's  name 
was  Prudence  Servien — I  shall  return  to  kill  you 
were  I  to  be  guillotined  for  it." 

The  president  of  the  court  endeavored  to  comfort 
Prudence  Servien  by  promising  her  the  support 
and  influence  of  the  law;  but  the  poor  girl  was 
struck  with  such  terror  that  she  fell  ill  and  remained 
for  nearly  a  year  in  the  hospital.  Justice  is  a 
creation  of  the  brain,  represented  by  a  collection 
of  individuals,  uninterruptedly  renewed,  whose 
memories  and  good  intentions  are  like  themselves, 
excessively  changeable.  Bars  and  tribunals  can  do 
nothing  to  prevent  crime.  They  are  invented  to 
accept  it  when  it  is  already  in  existence.  On  this 
account  a  preventive  police  would  be  a  benefit  to 
the  country;  but  the  word  "police"  alarms  the 
legislator  of  to-day,  who  is  no  longer  able  to  distin- 
guish between  the  words,  "to govern,"  "to adminis- 
trate," and  "to  make  laws."  The  legislator  strives 
to  concentrate  all  power  in  the  State,  as  though  the 
State  were  able  to  act!  Then  the  galley-slave  is 
free  to  meditate  upon  his  victim  and  to  wreak  his 
revenge,  since  justice  thinks  of  neither.  Prudence, 
who  had  a  general  instinctive  idea  of  her  danger, 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN         263 

left  Valenciennes,  and  at  seventeen  went  to  Paris 
to  hide  herself.  There  she  practiced  four  trades 
of  which  the  most  respectable  was  that  of  chorus 
girl  in  a  small  theatre.  She  met  Paccard  and  told 
him  the  story  of  her  misfortunes.  Paccard,  the 
right  arm,  the  zealot  of  Jacques  Collin,  spoke  of 
Prudence  to  his  master,  and  when  the  master  had 
need  of  a  slave,  he  said  to  Prudence : 

"If  you  will  serve  me  as  men  serve  the  devil,  I 
will  rid  you  of  Durut." 

Durut  was  the  galley-slave, the  sword  of  Damocles 
suspended  above  the  head  of  Prudence  Servien. 
Without  these  details  many  critics  would  have 
found  Europe's  attachment  to  her  master  somewhat 
fantastical,  and  no  reader  could  have  understood  the 
extraordinary  effect  which  Carlos  was  about  to  pro- 
duce upon  her. 

"Yes,  child,  you  can  return  to  Valenciennes. 
Take  this  and  read  it" 

And  he  handed  her  the  journal  of  the  evening 
before,  pointing  with  his  finger  to  the  following 
paragraph : 

"Toulon. — Yesterday  took  place  the  execution  of 
Jean  Francois  Durut  In  the  morning  the  garrison," 
etc. 

Prudence  let  the  paper  fall.  Her  legs  gave  way 
beneath  the  weight  of  her  body.  Life  was  once 
more  before  her ;  for,  as  she  said,  she  had  not  cared 
for  bread  since  the  menace  of  Durut 

"You  see,  I  have  kept  my  word.  I  needed  four 
years  to  secure  Durut' s  execution—  by  drawing  him 


264  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

into  a  trap.  Finish  my  work  well  here,  and 
you  will  find  yourself  at  the  head  of  a  small 
business  in  your  own  country,  with  twenty  thou- 
sand francs  in  your  pocket  and  Paccard  for  a  hus- 
band; for  I  shall  allow  him  to  retreat  into 
respectability." 

Europe  picked  up  the  paper  and  read  unweariedly 
with  glistening  eyes  every  one  of  those  details 
which  the  newspapers  have  never  wearied  of  giving 
concerning  the  execution  of  galley-slaves  during  the 
past  twenty  years — the  impressive  spectacle,  the 
priest  who  has  always  absolved  the  sufferer,  the  old 
criminal  exhorting  his  ex-colleagues,  the  leveled 
guns,  the  kneeling  criminals;  then  the  commonplace 
reflections  that  never  do  anything  toward  changing 
the  system  of  the  galleys  swarming  with  eighteen 
thousand  crimes. 

"Asia  must  be  reinstated  in  the  house,"  said 
Carlos. 

Asia  stepped  forward,  still  mystified  by  Europe's 
pantomime. 

"In  order  to  have  her  installed  as  cook  here,  you 
will  begin  by  serving  the  baron  a  dinner  such  as  he 
has  never  eaten  before, ' '  he  continued.  ' '  Then  you 
will  tell  him  that  Asia  has  lost  her  money  at  play, 
and  has  been  obliged  to  take  a  situation  again. 
We  shall  need  no  groom.  Paccard  will  be  coach- 
man; coachmen  are  rarely  obliged  to  leave  their 
seats  and  once  in  them  they  are  scarcely  accessible, 
so  detectives  will  find  him  difficult  to  reach.  Your 
mistress  must  make  him  wear  a  powdered  wig  and 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN         265 

a  cocked  felt  hat  with  lace  trimmings.  That  will 
alter  him;  besides  I'll  make  him  up." 

"Are  we  to  have  other  servants  with  us?"  de- 
manded Asia,  glancing  askance  at  the  priest 

"We  shall  have  several  honest  people,"  replied 
Carlos. 

"All  numskulls!"  added  the  mulatto. 

"If  the  baron  rents  a  house,  Paccard  has  a  friend 
who  is  suitable  for  janitor;  we  shall  not  need  more 
than  one  valet  and  a  kitchen-maid.  It  will  be  easy 
for  you  to  watch  two  strangers." 

As  Carlos  was  about  to  go,  Paccard  appeared. 

"Stay  here,  there  are  people  in  the  street,"  said 
the  groom.  This  speech,  simple  as  it  was,  startled 
everybody.  Carlos  went  upstairs  to  Europe's  room 
and  remained  there  until  Paccard  came  for  him  in 
a  hired  carriage,  which  drove  into  the  courtyard. 
Carlos  lowered  the  curtains  and  was  carried  away 
at  a  pace  well  calculated  to  disconcert  pursuit 

When  he  reached  the  Faubourg  Saint-Antoine  he 
ordered  the  carriage  to  stop  in  the  neighborhood  of  a 
cab-stand,  whither  he  walked  on  foot  and  soon  after 
entered  the  Quais  Malaquais,  secure  from  all  curious 
observation. 

"Look  here,  child,"  said  he  to  Lucien,  showing 
him  four  hundred  bills  of  one  thousand  francs  each ; 
"this,  I  hope,  goes  on  account  for  the  price  of  the 
Rubempre  estate.  We'll  speculate  with  a  hundred 
thousand  of  it  Omnibuses  have  just  been  started 
in  Paris.  The  Parisians  are  sure  to  take  to  them, 
as  they  are  a  novelty;  in  three  months  we  shall 


266  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

triple  our  funds.  I  know  all  about  the  business; 
they  will  pay  splendid  dividends  out  of  the  capital 
in  order  to  advertise  the  stock — a  trick  they  learned 
from  Nucingen.  When  we  repair  the  Rubempre 
estate  we  shall  not  pay  for  everything  immediately. 
You  must  go  and  see  des  Lupeaulx  and  you  beg 
him  to  recommend  you  himself  to  an  attorney  named 
Desroches,  a  shrewd  devil  whom  you  will  visit  at 
his  office.  You  will  speak  to  him  about  going  to 
Rubempre  and  examining  the  estate  and  will  promise 
him  twenty  thousand  francs  for  himself,  provided 
that  he  can  buy  land  about  the  ruins  of  the  chateau 
to  the  amount  of  eight  hundred  thousand  francs, 
and  arrange  matters  so  that  it  will  bring  you  in  an 
income  of  thirty  thousand  francs." 

"How  you  go  on!  on!  on!" 

"I  never  stop.  It's  no  time  for  joking.  You  will 
invest  three  hundred  thousand  francs  of  it  in 
Treasury  bonds  so  as  not  to  lose  any  interest  You 
may  leave  them  with  Desroches.  He's  as  honest 
as  he  is  cunning.  This  done,  you  must  hurry  away 
to  Angoule'me,  and  induce  your  sister  and  brother- 
in-law  to  lay  a  friendly  little  lie  upon  their  con- 
sciences. Your  relations  can  declare  that  they  have 
presented  you  with  six  hundred  thousand  francs  in 
order  to  facilitate  your  marriage  with  Clotilde  de 
Grandlieu.  There's  nothing  dishonorable  in  that " 

"We're  saved!"  cried  Lucien,  dazzled  at  the 
thought 

"You,  yes!"  answered  Carlos;  "but  you  will 
never  be  perfectly  secure  until  you  come  forth  from 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN         267 

Saint  Thomas  Aquinas'  with  Clotilde  as  your 
wife." 

"What  do  you  fear?"  inquired  Lucien,  apparently 
full  of  solicitude  for  his  counsellor. 

"There  are  busy-bodies  on  my  trail.  I  am  forced 
to  maintain  the  appearance  of  a  real  priest  and  it's 
very  troublesome.  The  devil  even  won't  protect 
me  any  more  when  he  sees  me  with  a  breviary 
under  my  arm." 

At  this  same  moment  the  Baron  de  Nucingen, 
who  had  walked  away  arm  in  arm  with  his  cashier, 
reached  the  door  of  his  mansion. 

"I  vear  much,"  said  he  as  he  entered,  "zat  I  haf 
mate  put  a  zorry  gampaign.  Pah !  ve  vill  mague 
ub  vor  eet" 

"Ze  meesvortune  ees  zat  ze  paron  vill  pe  dalked 
apout,"  answered  the  honest  German,  anxious  only 
for  decorum's  sake. 

"Yes,  meine  misdress,  py  rights,  zhould  pe  in  a 
bozission  vorthy  of  me,"  answered  this  Louis  XIV. 
of  the  counting-house. 


Confident  of  possessing  Esther  sooner  or  later, 
the  baron  became  once  more  the  great  financier 
which  he  had  been.  He  returned  to  the  manage- 
ment of  his  business  with  such  alacrity  that  his 
cashier,  on  discovering  him  the  next  morning  at  six 
o'clock  in  his  office,  looking  over  papers,  rubbed  his 
hands  together  in  delight 

"Tecitetly,  paron,  lasd  efening  vas  egonomigal 
vor  you,"  said  he,  with  a  German  smile,  half 
shrewd,  half  foolish. 

If  rich  people  like  the  Baron  de  Nucingen  have 
more  chances  than  others  of  losing  money  they  have 
also  more  chances  of  winning  it,  even  when  they 
surrender  themselves  to  their  passions.  Although 
explanation  of  the  financial  policy  of  the  celebrated 
house  of  Nucingen  will  be  found  elsewhere,  it  may  be 
observed  here  that  such  vast  fortunes  are  not  acquired 
or  made,  and  do  not  increase  or  endure,  in  the 
midst  of  the  commercial,  political  and  industrial 
revolutions  of  our  time,  without  immense  losses  of 
capital,  or,  if  you  like,  without  levying  assessments 
upon  private  property.  Very  little  new  wealth  is 
poured  into  the  common  treasury  of  the  world. 
Every  fresh  monopoly  represents  a  new  injustice  in 
the  general  redistribution.  The  State  gives  back 
what  it  demands,  but  what  a  house  of  Nucingen 
(269) 


270  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

takes,  it  keeps.  This  terrible  blow  at  the  nation 
eludes  the  law  for  the  same  reason  that  Frederick 
II.  would  have  turned  into  a  Jacques  Collin  or  a 
Mandrin,  if,  instead  of  battling  for  provinces  he  had 
speculated  in  the  smuggling  trade  or  on  floating 
capital.  To  compel  the  states  of  Europe  to  borrow 
at  ten  or  twenty  per  cent,  to  gain  this  ten  or  twenty 
per  cent  from  the  public  funds,  to  exact  wholesale 
contributions  from  the  industries  of  the  country  by 
securing  complete  control  of  raw  materials,  to  toss  to 
the  originator  of  an  undertaking  a  rope  holding  him 
above  water  until  he  has  resuscitated  his  half- 
drowned  enterprise,  in  short  all  those  struggles  for 
financial  success,  constitute  the  vital  policy  of 
money.  There  are  surely  risks  for  the  banker  as 
well  as  for  the  conqueror;  but  there  are  so  few 
people  in  a  position  to  engage  in  these  contests  that 
the  lambs  have  no  place  in  them.  The  shepherds 
play  the  great  parts.  Besides,  as  the  exfcut&s  (to  use 
the  slang  word  current  in  the  Exchange)  are  guilty  of 
having  wished  to  gain  too  much,  but  little  interest 
is  taken  in  the  misfortunes  caused  by  the  schemes 
of  men  like  Nucingen.  A  speculator  blows  out  his 
brains,  a  broker  absconds,  a  notary  runs  away  with 
the  money  of  a  hundred  households — a  worse  crime 
than  murder — a  banker  becomes  insolvent:  and  all 
these  catastrophes  are  forgotten  in  a  few  months  at 
Paris,  soon  covered  by  the  oceanic  turmoil  of  the 
mighty  city.  The  colossal  fortunes  of  Jacques  Coeur, 
of  the  Medici,  of  Ango  of  Dieppe,  of  Aufredi  of  La 
Rochelle,  of  Fugger,  of  Tiepolo,  and  of  Corner  were 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN         271 

honestly  made  in  former  times,  through  privileges 
due  to  ignorance  in  regard  to  the  origin  of  all 
precious  commodities;  while  to-day  clearness  of 
vision  has  penetrated  so  far  among  the  masses,  and 
competition  has  reduced  the  profits  to  such  a  degree 
that  every  fortune,  rapidly  built,  is  the  effect  of  a 
chance  discovery,  or  the  result  of  a  legal  theft  Per- 
verted by  scandalous  examples,  petty  trade  has 
responded,  especially  during  the  past  decade,  to  the 
dishonesty  of  the  schemes  of  larger  firms  by  tamper- 
ing with  raw  materials.  Wherever  chemistry  is 
practiced  wine  is  no  longer  drunk;  and  the  culture 
of  vines  is  falling  into  disuse.  People  sell  adulter- 
ated salt  in  order  to  escape  a  tax.  The  law  is 
appalled  by  this  universal  fraudulence,  French  com- 
merce is  suspected  by  the  entire  world,  and  England 
is  equally  demoralized.  In  France,  the  evil  comes 
from  political  legislation.  The  charter  proclaimed 
the  reign  of  money,  and  thus  success  becomes  the 
highest  criterion  of  an  atheistic  age.  In  addition  to 
this,  corruption  in  the  higher  spheres,  in  spite  of 
results  that  are  outwardly  brilliant  and  specious 
reasoning,  is  infinitely  more  hideous  than  the 
ignoble,  almost  personal,  corruption  in  the  lower 
spheres,  a  few  details  of  which  add  a  grotesque,  or 
1  might  say  a  terrible  element  to  this  "Scene  of 
Parisian  Life."  The  government  that  takes  fright 
at  every  new  idea,  has  banished  from  the  theatre 
all  comic  representations  of  what  actually  exists 
to-day.  The  townspeople,  less  liberal  than  Louis 
XIV.,  tremble  at  the  approach  of  the  Mariage  de 


272  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

Figaro,  forbid  the  performance  of  the  political  Tar- 
tuffe,  and  surely  would  never  permit  Turcaret  on 
the  stage.  For  Turcaret  now  reigns  supreme. 
From  this  time  comedy  is  told,  not  played;  and  the 
book  becomes  the  less  rapid  but  surer  arm  of  a  poet 

During  this  morning,  in  the  midst  of  the  going 
and  coming  of  audiences,  directions  and  rapid  con- 
ferences, which  made  Nucingen's  office  a  kind  of 
financial  Salle  des  pas  Perdus,  one  of  his  brokers 
announced  to  him  the  disappearance  of  one  of  the 
cleverest  and  richest  members  of  the  firm,  Jacques 
Falleix,  brother  of  Martin  Falleix,  and  successor  of 
Jules  Desmarets.  Jacques  Falleix  was  nominally 
a  broker  employed  by  the  firm  of  Nucingen,  but,  in 
concert  with  Du  Tillet  and  the  Kellers,  the  baron 
had  plotted  his  destruction  as  deliberately  as 
if  he  were  discussing  the  slaughter  of  a  Paschal 
lamb. 

"He  coult  holt  oud  no  longer,"  answered  the 
baron  complacently. 

Jacques  Falleix  had  rendered  vast  services  in 
stock  jobbing.  In  a  crisis,  a  few  months  before,  he 
had  helped  the  firm  out  of  serious  difficulty  by  an 
audacious  manoeuvre ;  but  to  expect  gratitude  from 
men  of  Nucingen's  class  is  it  not  like  looking  in  mid- 
winter for  tenderness  among  Ukrainian  wolves? 

' '  Poor  man !' '  returned  the  broker.  ' '  He  expected 
this  catastrophe  so  little  that  he  had  furnished  a 
small  house  in  the  Rue  Saint  Georges  for  his  mis- 
tress and  spent  a  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  francs 
in  paintings  and  furniture  for  it  He  was  so  fond 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN         273 

of  Madame  du  Val  Noble!    There's  a  woman  forced 
to  leave  it  all.     Everything  there  is  owed  for." 

"Gut!  gut!"  said  the  baron  to  himself.  "Zis 
ees  chust  ze  chance  to  rebair  my  loszes  of  lasd 
night. — He  has  baid  vor  nodding?"  demanded  he 
of  the  broker. 

"Not  he,"  replied  the  latter;  "what  upholsterer 
would  have  been  idiot  enough  to  refuse  credit  to 
Jacques  Falleix?  It  seems  that  there  is  an  admira- 
ble cellar  too.  By  the  bye,  the  house  is  for  sale; 
he  counted  upon  buying  it  The  lease  is  in  his 
name.  What  stupidity!  Silver,  furniture,  wines, 
carriage,  horses,  will  all  be  sold  wholesale,  and 
what  will  the  creditors  realize?" 

"Gome  do-morrow,"  said  Nucingen;  "I  zhall  haf 
zeen  to  all  zat,  ant  eef  zey  ton't  teclare  pankrubtzy, 
but  gonzent  to  arranche  madders  amigably,  I 
autorize  you  to  ovver  ein  reasonaple  brice  vor  ze 
vurnidure,  ant  you  may  dake  ze  leaze." 

"That's  easily  done,"  said  the  broker.  "Go  there 
this  morning  and  you  will  find  one  of  Falleix's 
partners  there  with  the  upholsterers,  who  are 
anxious  to  secure  the  proceeds  of  the  sale;  but 
Madame  Val  Noble  holds  their  invoices  in  Falleix's 
name." 

The  Baron  de  Nucingen  despatched  a  clerk  forth- 
with to  his  notary.  Jacques  Falleix  had  spoken 
to  him  about  this  house  which  was  worth,  at  the 
most,  sixty  thousand  francs ;  and  he  wished  to  take 
immediate  possession  for  the  sake  of  enjoying  a 
landlord's  privileges  in  regard  to  the  rents. 
18 


2/4  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

The  cashier — honest  man  that  he  was! — came  to 
ask  whether  his  master  had  lost  anything  in  Falleix's 
failure. 

"On  ze  gondrairy,  mein  gut  vriend  Volfgang,  I 
am  going  to  make  ein  huntert  tausand  vrancs." 

"How?" 

"I  zhall  haf  ze  leetle  house  zat  ze  boor  tefil  Valleix 
has  peen  brebaring  vor  his  misdress  vor  ze  bast 
year.  I  zhall  haf  ze  whole  py  ovvering  ze  greditors 
feefty  tausand  vrancs  ant  Masder  Gartod,  mein 
nodary,  vill  haf  mein  orters  apoud  ze  house,  vor  ze 
brobrietor  is  een  neet  of  money.  I  neu  eet  pivore 
put  mein  prain  hat  gone.  Een  a  leetle  vhile  meine 
tifine  Esder  vill  haf  ein  leetle  balace.  Valleix  has 
daken  me  zere,  eet  ees  ein  miragle  and  gloze  py. 
Zis  veets  me  like  ein  glov. " 

Falleix's  failure  obliged  the  baron  to  go  to  the 
Stock  Exchange;  but  it  was  impossible  for  him  to 
leave  the  Rue  Saint  Lazare  without  passing  through 
the  Rue  Taitbout.  He  was  already  suffering  because 
he  had  been  for  a  few  hours  absent  from  Esther, 
and  longed  to  have  her  always  at  his  side.  The  gains 
which  he  counted  upon  making  from  the  spoils  of  his 
broker  made  him  think  very  lightly  of  the  loss  of  four 
hundred  thousand  francs  that  he  had  encountered. 
Enchanted  with  the  thought  of  announcing  to  his 
ancliel  the  news  of  her  approaching  translation  from 
the  Rue  Taitbout  to  the  Rue  Saint  Georges,  where 
she  should  have  ein  leetle  balace,  in  which  memories 
could  no  longer  obscure  their  happiness,  the  very 
paving  stones  felt  soft  beneath  his  feet,  and  he 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN         275 

walked  like  a  young  man  in  a  young  man's  dream. 
At  the  corner  of  the  Rue  des  Trois-Freres,  in  the 
middle  of  his  dream,  the  baron  saw  himself  con- 
fronted by  Europe,  who  was  approaching  with  a 
very  forlorn  countenance. 

"Vere  are  you  coing?"  he  asked. 

"  Ah !  1  was  on  my  way  to  your  house,  sir.  You 
were  quite  right,  yesterday!  Now,  I  believe  it 
would  have  been  better  if  my  poor  mistress  had  gone 
to  prison  for  a  few  days.  What  do  women  know 
about  money  matters  ?  The  moment  her  creditors 
learned  that  she  had  returned  to  her  house  they  all 
swooped  down  on  us  like  birds  of  prey.  Yesterday 
evening  at  seven  they  came  and  pasted  up  hideous 
placards  saying  that  her  furniture  was  to  be  sold 
next  Saturday.  But  this  is  nothing.  My  mistress, 
who  is  all  kindness,  once  wished  to  assist  that 
monster — you  know  whom  I  mean?" 

"Vat  monsder?" 

"Oh,  the  one  she  loved,  that  d'Estourny;  ah! 
he  was  fascinating,  but  he  gambled,  and  that  tells 
the  story." 

"He  gampled  mit  markt  gards — " 

"Well,  and  what  do  you  do  at  the  Stock  Exchange  ? 
But  let  me  go  on.  One  day,  to  prevent  Georges  from 
blowing  out  his  brains,  as  he  said  he  should  do,  she 
put  all  her  silver  and  jewels  in  pawn  at  the  Mont 
de  Piete  though  they  had  never  been  paid  for.  The 
creditors  learned  that  she  had  paid  something  on  a 
debt,  and  they  all  flocked  to  the  house  and  made  a 
dreadful  scene.  They  threatened  her  with  the 


276  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

police  court — your  angel  sitting  in  the  dock!  Isn't 
that  enough  to  make  a  wig  stand  on  end?  She 
bursts  into  tears;  talks  of  throwing  herself  into  the 
river.  Oh!  she'll  do  it" 

"Eef  I  am  to  zee  you,  gut-pye  to  ze  Exchange!" 
cried  Nucingen.  "Ant  eet  ees  imbossiple  vor  me 
not  to  go  zere,  vor  I  zhall  make  zometing  vor  her. 
Go  ant  galm  her;  I  vill  bay  her  tets;  I  zhall  zee 
her  advour  o'glock.  Put,  Ichenie,  dell  me  zat  zhe 
luffs  me  ein  leetle." 

"What!  a  little?  A  great  deal.  Why,  sir, 
nothing  but  generosity  can  win  a  woman's  heart 
Certainly  you  might  have  economized — perhaps 
a  hundred  thousand  francs — by  letting  her  go 
to  prison.  But  then  you  never  could  have 
gained  her  heart.  She  said  to  me,  '  Eugenie,  he 
is  very  generous,  very  kind.  He  has  a  noble 
soul!'" 

"Zhesaitzat,  Ichenie?"  cried  the  baron. 

"Yes,  sir,  to  me." 

"Here  are  den  louis,  dake  zem." 

"Thank  you.  But  she  is  crying  at  this  moment 
Since  yesterday  she  has  wept  as  many  tears  as 
Mary  Magdalene  wept  in  a  month.  The  woman 
you  love  is  in  despair,  and,  worse  than  all,  for  debts 
which  are  not  her  own.  Oh !  what  creatures  men 
are!  They  are  as  content  to  live  on  a  woman's 
bounty  as  a  woman  is  to  live  upon  an  old  man's!" 

"Vimen  are  all  alike!  Bromising  to  bay.  Eef 
she  vill  zign  nodding  more  I  bay,  put  eef  zhe  write 
anodder  signature,  I — " 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN        277 

"What  would  you  do?"  said  Europe,  striking  an 
attitude. 

"Mein  Gott,  I  haf  no  bower  ofer  her.  I  vill 
look  avder  her  leetle  pizness.  Co  ant  gonzole  her 
and  dell  her  zat  in  ein  month  zhe  zhall  haf  ein  leetle 
balace." 

"You  have  invested  at  a  high  rate  of  interest  in 
a  woman's  heart,  baron.  Even  I  can  see  that  you 
have  grown  younger,  though  I  am  but  a  lady's 
maid;  I  have  often  witnessed  this  phenomenon.  It 
is  happiness!  Happiness  is  reflected  in  a  man's 
face.  If  you  have  made  several  disbursements  don't 
regret  them,  you  will  see  what  they  bring  you  in 
return.  Then,  as  I  told  my  mistress,  she  would  be 
the  lowest  of  the  low— a  monster,  if  she  did  not 
love  you,  for  you  are  saving  her  from  a  hell.  Once 
that  she  is  free  from  care,  you  will  know  her  as 
she  is.  Between  you  and  me,  I  can  promise  you, 
the  night  when  she  wept  so  much — but  what  can 
you  expect?  A  woman  clings  to  the  esteem  of  a 
man  who  is  going  to  support  her.  She  dared  not 
tell  you  all.  She  wished  to  run  away." 

"Run  avay!"  exclaimed  the  baron,  startled  at 
the  thought  "Put  ze  Exchange,  ze  Exchange. 
Go,  go,  I  zhall  not  go  een ;  put  eef  I  vere  to  zee 
her  at  her  vindow  ze  zight  vould  gif  me  new  heart " 

Esther  smiled  at  Monsieur  de  Nucingen  as  he 
passed  before  the  house  and  he  walked  clumsily 
along,  saying  to  himself: 

"Zhe  ees  eine  anchel." 

This  was  the  measure  Europe  had  taken  to  procure 


278  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

an  impossible  result  Toward  half  past  two 
Esther  had  finished  attiring  herself  as  she  used  to 
do  when  she  expected  Lucien.  She  was  fascinat- 
ing. Seeing  her  thus  Prudence  exclaimed  with  a 
glance  toward  the  window : 

"Here  he  comes!" 

The  poor  girl  thinking  that  it  was  Lucien,  sprang 
forward  and  saw  Nucingen. 

"Ah,  how  you  hurt  me!"  she  said. 

"It  was  the  only  way  to  make  you  appear  atten- 
tive to  a  poor  old  man  who  is  going  to  pay  all  your 
debts,"  answered  Europe;  "for,  at  length,  they  are 
really  to  be  paid." 

"What  debts  ?' '  cried  the  girl,  who  had  no  thought 
but  to  hold  fast  the  love  which  cruel  hands  sought 
to  tear  from  her. 

"Those  which  M.  Carlos  has  made  for  you." 

"What!  They  amount  to  more  than  four  hun- 
dred and  fifty  thousand  francs  already!"  exclaimed 
Esther. 

"They  still  amount  to  a  hundred  and  fifty  thou- 
sand francs.  But  the  baron  has  borne  it  all  very 
well.  He  is  going  to  take  you  away  from  here  and 
place  you  een  ein  leetle  balace.  Heavens !  you  are 
not  unlucky !  If  I  were  in  your  place,  and  had  him 
so  firmly  in  hand,  after  satisfying  Carlos,  I  should 
have  myself  presented  with  a  house  and  an  income. 
You  are  certainly  the  most  beautiful  woman  I  have 
ever  seen  and  the  most  attractive,  but  ugliness  comes 
so  quickly;  I  have  been  fresh  and  pretty  myself, 
and  look  at  me  now !  I  am  twenty-three,  almost  as 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN         279 

young  as  you,  and  I  seem  ten  years  older.  An  ill- 
ness is  enough.  But  when  a  woman  has  a  house  in 
Paris  and  an  income,  she  is  in  no  danger  of  ending 
her  life  on  the  street." 

Esther  no  longer  heard  Europe-Eugenie-Prudence 
Servien.  The  will  of  a  man  gifted  with  the  genius 
of  corruption  had  plunged  her  once  again  into  the 
mire,  with  the  same  force  which  he  had  used  to  draw 
her  thence.  They  who  know  love  in  its  infinitude 
know  no  one  can  enjoy  its  pleasures  without  learn- 
ing some  of  its  virtues.  Since  the  scene  in  her 
squalid  room  in  the  Rue  de  Langlade,  Esther  had 
forgotten  her  old  life  completely.  Until  now  she 
had  loved  very  virtuously,  cloistered  within  her  pas- 
sion. In  order  to  avoid  every  obstacle  the  wise 
corrupter  had  had  the  craft  to  lay  his  toils  in  such  a 
way  that  the  poor  girl,  spurred  on  by  her  devotion, 
was  forced  into  giving  her  consent  to  roguery  that 
was  already  consummated  or  on  the  point  of  con- 
summation. This  nicety  of  cunning  reveals  the 
genius  of  the  corrupter,  and  indicates  the  method  by 
which  he  had  overcome  Lucien.  He  had  created 
terrible  necessities,  had  dug  the  mine,  filled  it  with 
powder,  and  at  the  critical  moment  said  to  the 
accomplice:  "Give  the  sign  and  everything  will  be 
blown  into  the  air !"  Esther  had  been  formerly  im- 
bued with  the  morality  of  a  courtesan,  and  had  found 
all  these  pleasing  modes  so  natural  that  she  estimated 
her  rivals  solely  by  the  sums  they  could  induce  a  man 
to  spend  upon  them.  Ruined  fortunes  are  the  chev- 
rons of  creatures  such  as  she  had  been.  Carlos,  in 


280  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

counting  upon  Esther's  remembrances,  was  not  de- 
ceived. These  stratagems  and  artifices  of  war,  a 
thousand  times  employed  by  spendthrifts  as  well  as 
by  the  women  of  her  class,  did  not  disturb  Esthers 
mind.  The  poor  girl  felt  nothing  but  her  degradation. 
She  adored  Lucien,  and  had  become  the  ostensible 
mistress  of  the  Baron  de  Nucingen;  that  was  her 
sorrow.  That  the  counterfeit  Spaniard  had  taken 
the  earnest  money;  that  Lucien  was  building  the 
castle  of  his  fortune  with  the  stones  of  Esther's 
tomb ;  that  a  single  night  of  pleasure  should  cost 
the  old  banker  a  few  thousand-franc  notes  more  or 
less,  or  that  Europe  should  trick  him  out  of  some 
hundred  thousand  francs  by  methods  more  or  less 
ingenious:  no  thoughts  such  as  these  entered  the 
mind  of  the  loving  girl.  This  was  the  canker  eat- 
ing at  her  heart;  for  five  years  she  had  thought 
herself  spotless  as  an  angel.  She  loved,  she  was 
happy.  She  had  not  been  guilty  of  the  slightest 
infidelity.  This  pure  exquisite  love  was  to  be  soiled. 
Her  mind  did  not  draw  a  contrast  between  the  fair 
secluded  life  she  had  led  and  the  impure  life  which 
lay  before  her.  Her  feeling  was  distinct  from  cal- 
culation or  poetical  feeling.  She  was  conscious  of 
an  indefinable  and  overwhelming  sense  that  from 
white  she  had  become  black;  from  pure,  impure; 
from  noble,  ignoble.  She  longed  to  be  white  as 
snow,  and  moral  stain  seemed  insupportable.  Thus, 
when  the  baron  had  spoken  to  her  of  his  love, 
the  thought  of  throwing  herself  out  of  the  window 
had  come  into  her  mind.  She  had  loved  Lucien 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN         281 

absolutely  as  a  woman  is  rarely  capable  of  loving  a 
man.  Women  who  say,  and  often  think  they  love  more 
than  anybody  else  in  the  world,  dance,  waltz,  flirt, 
with  other  men,  dress  for  society,  and  go  thither  to 
reap  their  harvest  of  admiring  glances ;  but  Esther 
had  accomplished  the  miracles  of  true  love  without 
self-sacrifice.  For  six  years  she  had  loved  Lucien 
with  the  love  of  actresses  and  courtesans,  who,  after 
having  been  immersed  in  filth  and  impurity,  thirst 
after  the  nobleness  and  the  devotion  of  true  love, 
and  observe  it  in  its  exclusiveness,  if  I  may  use  this 
word  to  express  an  idea  that  is  so  seldom  put  into 
practice ;  nations  of  the  past,  Greece,  Rome  and  the 
East  have  always  secluded  their  women ;  the  woman 
who  loves  should  seclude  herself.  Thus  the  reader 
can  imagine  that,  on  leaving  the  fairy  palace  which 
had  been  the  scene  of  her  happy  romance,  to  enter 
the  leetle  balace  of  a  cold  old  man,  Esther  was  seized 
by  a  kind  of  moral  illness.  Pressed  down  by  an 
iron  hand  she  was  half  sunk  in  infamy  before  she 
had  had  time  to  reflect ;  now  for  two  days  she  had 
been  reflecting  and  her  heart  felt  cold  as  death. 

At  the  words,  "ending  on  the  street,"  she  rose 
quickly  and  said: 

"In  the  street?    No,  better  end  in  the  Seine." 

"In  theSeine?  And  how  about  M.  Lucien?"  said 
Europe. 

At  this  single  word  Esther  fell  backward  into  her 
chair  where  she  sat  with  her  eyes  fixed  upon  a 
flower  in  the  carpet,  her  tears  drying  up  in  her 
burning  brain.  At  four  o'clock,  Nucingen  found  his 


282  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

angel  plunged  in  that  ocean  of  reflections  and  of  reso- 
lutions on  which  a  woman's  spirit  floats,  and  from 
which  her  only  escape  lies  in  words  that  are  incom- 
prehensible to  those  who  have  not  sailed  upon  the 
same  seas. 

"Clear  your  prow,  meine  bet,"  said  the  baron  as 
he  took  his  seat  by  her  side ;  "you  zhall  haf  no  more 
tets.  I  zhall  make  ein  arranchement  mit  Ichenie 
ant  in  ein  month  you  vill  leaf  zis  abardmend  do 
ender  ein  leetle  balace.  Oh,  vat  eine  luffly  hant! 
gif  eet  to  me  zat  I  may  kees  eet. — Esther  let  him 
take  her  hand  as  a  dog  gives  its  paw. — Ah!  you 
gif  ze  hant  ant  not  ze  heard,  ant  eet's  ze  heard  zat  I 
luff." 

These  words  were  spoken  with  so  sincere  an  ac- 
cent that  poor  Esther  turned  her  eyes  toward  the  old 
man  with  an  expression  of  pity  that  almost  crazed 
him.  Like  martyrs,  lovers  are  conscious  of  a  kin- 
ship with  all  who  suffer.  One  sorrow  under- 
stands another  better  than  any  other  two  feelings 
in  the  world. 

"Poor  man!"  said  she.     "He  loves." 

The  baron  heard  this  word  and  misunderstood  it. 
He  grew  pale;  the  blood  boiled  in  his  veins;  he 
breathed  the  air  of  heaven.  At  his  age,  millionaires 
pay  as  much  gold  as  a  woman  asks  for  a  sensation 
such  as  this. 

"I  luff  you  as  I  luff  my  taughder!"  he  exclaimed. 
"Ant  I  veel  zere,"  he  added,  laying  his  hand  on 
his  heart,  "zat  I  gannot  pear  to  zee  you  oddervise 
zan  habby." 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN         283 

"If  you  only  wished  to  be  my  father,  I  would 
love  you  dearly ;  I  would  never  leave  you  and  you 
would  find  that  I  am  not  wicked,  venal  nor  selfish  as 
I  seem  to  be  now. ' ' 

"You  haf  peen  voolish,  like  all  breddy  vomen," 
answered  the  baron;  "zat  ees  all.  Led's  dalk 
no  more  apout  eet;  our  own  pizness  ees  to 
mague  money  vor  you.  Pe  habby;  I  reely 
vish  to  pe  your  vader  for  a  vew  tays,  vor  you 
must  haf  dime  to  aggusdom  yourselve  to  mein  boor 
gargase. ' ' 

"Honestly?"  cried  Esther,  rising  and  springing 
upon  Nucingen's  knees  and  slipping  her  arm  around 
his  neck  in  a  close  embrace. 

"Honesdly,"  he  answered,  trying  to  contract  his 
features  into  a  smile. 

She  kissed  his  forehead,  believing  in  an  impossibil- 
ity: to  stay  pure  and  to  see  Lucien.  She  caressed 
the  baron  so  tenderly  that  La  Torpille  revived. 

She  bewitched  the  old  man  and  he  promised  to 
remain  her  father  for  forty  days.  These  forty  days 
were  required  for  the  purchase  and  the  furnishing  of 
the  house  in  the  Rue  Saint  Georges.  Once  in  the 
street,  on  his  homeward  way,  the  baron  said  to  him- 
self, "  I  am  ein  ass." 

It  was  true  that  although  he  acted  as  a  child  in 
Esther's  presence,  the  moment  he  had  left  her  he 
wrapped  his  lynx's  skin  about  him  just  as  Le  Joueur 
falls  once  more  in  love  with  Angelique  when  he 
has  lost  his  last  penny. 

"Ein  half  million,  ant  to  pe  vere  I  am;  zis  ees 


284  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

doo  sdoobid.  Put  luckily  nopody  vill  know  any- 
ding  apout  eet,"  said  he,  three  weeks  later. 

He  made  excellent  resolutions  to  break  loose  from 
a  woman  whom  he  had  bought  so  dear ;  and  then, 
when  Esther  stood  before  him,  he  spent  every 
moment  he  could  spare  her  in  making  amends  for 
the  brutality  of  his  intention. 

"I  to  not  vish,"  he  said  at  the  end  of  a  month, 
"to  pecome  ze  edernal  vater." 

In  the  latter  part  of  the  month   of  December, 

1829,  on  the  day  before  Esther's  installation  in  the 
small  house  in  the  Rue  Saint  Georges,  the  baron 
invited  Du  Tillet  to  conduct  Florine  thither  in  order 
to  see  whether  everything  were  in  harmony  with 
Nucingen's  fortune,   whether  the  words  ein  leetle 
balace  had  been  realized  by  the  artists  commissioned 
to  make  this  cage  worthy  of  its  bird.      Every  luxu- 
rious invention  dating  from  before  the  revolution  of 

1830,  contributed  to  make  this  house  the  model  of 
good  taste.      Grindot,  the  architect,  acknowledged 
it  as  the  masterpiece  of  his  decorative  talent     The 
staircase  had  been  rebuilt  in  marble,  the  stucco  and 
draperies  and  gilding  applied  with  sober  judgment, 
and  the  slightest  details,  as  well  as  the  general  effect, 
surpassed  everything  of  the  kind  that  the  century 
of  Louis  XV.  has  left  in  Paris. 

"This  is  my  dream;  this  and  virtue!"  said 
Florine  smiling.  "And  for  whose  sake  are  you 
spending  this  money?"  she  asked  of  Nucingen. 
"  Is  it  a  virgin  who  has  suffered  herself  to  fall  from 
heaven  ? " 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN         285 

"Eet  ees  eine  voman  who  ees  rising  zizzer,"  re- 
plied the  baron. 

"One  way  of  posing  yourself  as  Jupiter," 
answered  the  actress;  "and  when  shall  we  see 
her?" 

"Oh,  the  day  of  the  housewarming,"  exclaimed 
Du  Tillet 

"Not  pefore," — said  the  baron. 

"We  must  all  prink,  and  powder,  and  adorn  our- 
selves," continued  Florine.  "Oh,  how  the  women 
will  burden  the  lives  of  their  dressmakers  and  hair- 
dressers for  that  evening!  When  is  it?" 

"I  am  not  ze  masder." 

"Ah!  what  a  woman!"  exclaimed  Florine.  "How 
I  should  like  to  see  her." 

"I  zhould  doo,"  replied  the  baron  ingenuously. 

"What!  Are  the  house,  woman,  and  furniture  all 
new?" 

"Even  the  banker,"  added  Du  Tillet;  "for  my 
friend  seems  to  me  very  young  indeed." 

"He  must  return  to  his  twentieth  year,  if  only  for 
a  moment,"  said  Florine. 


During  the  early  days  of  1830,  all  Paris  was  talk- 
ing about  Nucingen's  mad  love  and  the  boundless 
luxury  of  h'is  house.  The  poor  baron,  lampooned, 
ridiculed,  and  bursting  with  rage  that  may  easily 
be  imagined,  like  the  financier  he  was,  determined 
to  act  upon  a  plan  in  accordance  with  the  passion 
in  his  heart  He  wished  to  kindle  the  first  fire  on 
his  new  hearth  with  the  cloak  of  his  magnanimous 
fatherhood  and  to  secure  the  reward  of  his  long  self- 
sacrifice.  Constantly  rebuffed  by  La  Torpille,  he 
resolved  to  continue  his  negotiations  by  letter  in  order 
to  obtain  from  her  a  written  agreement  Bankers 
have  no  faith  except  in  promissory  notes.  Thus 
the  lynx  arose  early  on  one  of  the  first  days  of  this 
year,  locked  himself  in  his  study,  and  began  to  com- 
pose the  following  letter,  written  in  excellent 
French,  for,  although  he  pronounced  badly,  he 
wrote  with  great  accuracy: 

"DEAR  ESTHER: 

"Blossom  of  my  thoughts  and  sole  happiness  of 
my  life,  when  I  told  you  that  I  loved  you  as 
my  daughter  I  deceived  you  and  deceived  myself. 
I  simply  wished  to  express  to  you  in  this  way 
the  sanctity  of  my  feelings,  which  are  un'»ke  all 
that  men  have  felt  before;  first,  because  1  am  an 
(287) 


288  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

elderly  man,  and  secondly,  because  I  have  never 
loved  till  now.  I  love  you  so  well  that  if  you  were 
to  cost  me  my  fortune  I  could  not  love  you  less.  Do 
not  be  unjust.  Most  men  could  not  see  in  you  the 
angel  which  I  have  discerned ;  I  have  never  even 
glanced  at  your  past.  I  love  you  both  as  I  love  my 
daughter  Augusta,  who  is  my  only  child,  and  as  I 
should  love  my  wife  had  she  ever  loved  me.  If 
happiness  be  the  sole  absolution  possible  for  an  old 
man,  ask  yourself  whether  I  am  not  playing  a 
ridiculous  part  I  have  made  you  the  consolation 
and  the  joy  of  my  declining  years.  You  know  very 
well  that  until  my  death  you  will  be  as  happy  as  a 
woman  can  be,  and  you  may  be  sure  that  after  I  die 
you  will  be  rich  enough  to  be  envied  by  many 
another  woman.  In  every  transaction  that  I  have 
carried  on  since  I  have  had  the  happiness  of  know- 
ing you,  a  share  of  the  gain  is  allotted  to  you  and 
you  have  an  interest  in  the  house  of  Nucingen.  In 
a  few  days  you  will  enter  a  house,  which,  if  it 
please  you,  shall  be  yours  sooner  or  later.  Will  you 
receive  me  there  still  as  your  father  or  shall  I,  at 
length,  be  rewarded  ?  Pardon  me  for  writing  you 
so  plainly ;  but  when  I  am  by  your  side  my  courage 
deserts  me,  and  I  feel  but  too  strongly  that  you  are 
my  mistress.  I  do  not  mean  to  offend  you ;  I  only 
wish  to  tell  you  all  that  I  suffer,  and  how  cruel  wait- 
ing is,  when  at  my  age  every  day  deprives  me  of 
some  hope  and  some  enjoyment.  The  delicacy  of 
my  conduct  is  an  additional  proof  of  the  sincerity  of 
my  intentions.  Have  I  ever  acted  the  part  of  a 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN         289 

creditor  ?  You  are  like  a  citadel,  and  I  am  no  longer 
young.  To  my  complaints  you  answer  that  your 
life  is  at  stake,  and  you  force  me  to  believe  it  when 
I  listen  to  you;  but  now  I  fall  back  among  dark 
griefs  and  doubts,  which  are  dishonoring  to  us  both. 
You  have  seemed  to  me  as  candid  and  as  good  as 
you  are  lovely,  but  you  are  pleased  to  destroy  my 
convictions.  Judge  for  yourself.  You  tell  me  that 
your  heart  is  filled  with  a  great  and  pitiless  passion, 
yet  you  refuse  to  confide  to  me  the  name  of  him  you 
love.  Is  this  natural  ?  You  have  changed  a  man 
of  some  strength  into  a  man  of  inconceivable  weak- 
ness. See  to  what  straits  I  am  come.  After  five 
months  I  am  driven  to  ask  of  you  what  future  you 
hold  in  reserve  for  my  love.  Besides,  I  must  know 
what  part  I  am  to  play  at  your  approaching  house- 
warming.  Money  means  nothing  to  me  when  it  is 
spent  for  you;  1  shall  not  be  so  silly  as  to  attempt 
to  make  this  disdain  a  merit  in  your  eyes;  but, 
though  my  love  knows  no  bounds,  there  are  limits 
to  my  fortune,  and  I  keep  it  only  for  your  sake. 
Thus,  if  by  endowing  you  with  all  that  I  possess  I 
could  in  my  poverty  secure  your  affection,  I  should 
rather  be  poor  and  loved  by  you  than  rich  and  de- 
spised by  you.  You  have  changed  me  so  completely, 
my  dear  Esther,  that  nobody  recognizes  me ;  I  paid 
ten  thousand  francs  for  a  picture  by  Joseph  Bridau, 
because  you  told  me  that  he  was  a  man  of  talent, 
although  but  little  known.  Besides  all  this  I  give 
five  francs  in  your  name  to  every  beggar  whom  I 
meet.  What,  I  ask,  does  this  old  man  demand,  who 
19 


290  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

counts  himself  your  debtor,  when  you  do  him  the 
honor  of  accepting  any  gift  at  his  hands?  He 
wishes  only  for  hope.  And,  great  heavens!  what 
hope  it  is !  Is  it  not  rather  the  certainty  of  never 
receiving  from  you  what  I  passionately  long  for? 
Yet  the  very  flame  in  my  heart  will  aid  your  cruel 
deceit  You  will  find  me  ready  to  submit  to  every 
condition  that  you  may  care  to  impose  upon  my 
happiness  and  my  rare  pleasures,  but  at  least  tell 
me  that  on  the  day  when  you  take  possession  of 
your  house,  you  will  accept  the  heart  and  the  thrall- 
dom  of  him  who  signs  himself  for  the  rest  of  his 
days 

"Your  slave, 

"FREDERIC  DE  NUCINGEN." 

"How  this  old  money-bags  wearies  me!"  ex- 
claimed Esther,  once  more  a  courtesan. 

She  took  a  sheet  of  scented  paper  and  wrote,  in 
as  large  a  hand  as  the  sheet  allowed,  the  celebrated 
phrase  which,  to  the  glory  of  Scribe,  has  passed 
into  a  proverb,  "Prenez  mon  ours." 

Fifteen  minutes  later,  Esther  was  seized  with 
remorse  and  wrote  the  following  letter : 

"MONSIEUR  LE  BARON: 

"Do  not  pay  the  least  attention  to  the  letter 
you  received  from  me;  I  had  fallen  back  into 
the  folly  of  my  youth;  so  pardon  this  fault, 
sir,  in  a  poor  girl  who  ought  to  be  a  slave.  I  have 
never  felt  the  degradation  of  my  position  so  keenly 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN         291 

as  since  the  day  that  I  was  given  up  to  you.  You 
have  paid ;  I  owe  myself.  There  is  nothing  more 
sacred  than  the  debts  of  dishonor.  I  have  no  right 
to  liquidate  them  by  throwing  myself  into  the  Seine. 
A  debt  can  always  be  paid  in  that  horrid  coin 
which  is  good  only  on  one  side :  thus  I  am  ready  to 
obey  your  commands.  I  wish  to  pay  in  one  night  all 
the  sums  for  which,  up  to  this  fatal  moment,  obliga- 
tions have  been  given,  for  I  am  more  than  certain  that 
one  night  with  me  is  worth  millions,  especially  as  it 
will  be  the  only  one  and  my  last  night.  When 
I  have  ceased  to  be  a  debtor,  I  can  leave  this 
life.  An  honest  woman  has  chances  to  rise  from  a 
fall,  but  the  rest  of  us  have  fallen  too  low.  Thus 
my  resolution  is  so  firmly  taken  that  I  beg  you  to 
keep  this  letter  in  testimony  of  the  cause  of  the 
death  of  her  who  signs  herself  for  a  day, 
"Your  servant, 

"ESTHER." 

The  letter  once  despatched,  Esther  regretted  it 
Ten  minutes  later  she  wrote  the  following  letter: 

"Pardon,  dear  baron,  it  is  I  once  more.  I  have 
had  no  wish  to  mock  you  or  to  wound  you ;  I  sim- 
ply ask  you  to  reflect  upon  this  simple  reasoning: 
if  we  remain  together  in  the  relations  of  father 
and  daughter,  you  will  have  a  pleasure  slight, 
but  lasting.  If  you  demand  the  fulfilment  of  the 
contract,  you  will  mourn  for  me.  I  do  not  wish 
to  trouble  yt*i  longer ;  the  day  that  you  choose 


2Q2  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

pleasure   instead  of    content  shall    be   without  a 
morrow  for  me. 

''Your  daughter, 

"ESTHER." 

At  the  first  letter  the  baron  was  the  victim  of 
one  of  those  fits  of  cold  anger  that  may  bring  death 
to  millionaires;  he  glanced  at  himself  in  the  look- 
ing-glass, and  then  rang  the  bell. 

"Ein  voot  path,"  he  cried  to  his  new  valet 

As  he  was  taking  his  foot  bath,  the  second  letter 
arrived.  He  read  it  and  fell  back  senseless.  The 
millionaire  was  carried  to  his  bed,  and  when  the 
financier  revived,  Madame  de  Nucingen  was  seated 
on  the  foot  of  the  bed. 

"The  girl  is  right,"  said  she.  "Why  do  you 
wish  to  buy  love  ?  Is  it  sold  in  the  market  ?  Let 
me  see  your  letter." 

The  baron  handed  her  the  various  rough  copies 
which  he  had  made. 

Madame  de  Nucingen  read  them  with  a  smile. 
The  third  letter  arrived. 

"She  is  a  most  extraordinary  woman !"  exclaimed 
the  baroness  after  reading  the  last  letter. 

"Vat  zhall  I  to,  montame?"  demanded  the  baron 
of  his  wife. 

"Wait" 

"Vait!"  he  repeated,  "nadure  ees  bityless." 

"Now,  my  dear,"  said  the  baroness,  "you  have 
ended  by  being  very  kind  to  me,  and  I  am  going  to 
give  you  good  advice."  . 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN         293 

"You  are  eine  gut  vooman!"  said  he.  "Gon- 
dract  your  tebts,  I  vill  bay  vor  zem." 

"What  happened  to  you  at  the  receipt  of  the 
girl's  letter  touches  a  woman  more  than  millions 
spent  upon  her,  or  than  any  letters,  no  matter  how 
tender  they  may  be.  Let  her  hear  about  it  in- 
directly, and  perhaps  you  may  win  her.  And  don't 
be  too  scrupulous;  she  won't  die  of  it,"  added  the 
baroness,  looking  fixedly  at  her  husband. 

Madame  de  Nucingen  was  completely  ignorant  of 
the  child  of  nature. 

"How  glever  Montame  de  Nichengueene  ees!" 
thought  the  baron,  when  his  wife  left  him  to  him- 
self. 

But  the  more  the  baron  admired  the  policy  of  the 
advice  which  the  baroness  had  given  him,  the 
less  he  could  formulate  a  plan  for  making  use  of  it 
He  not  only  thought  himself  stupid,  but  actually 
admitted  it  to  himself. 

The  stupidity  of  a  moneyed  man,  although  it 
has  become  almost  proverbial,  is,  nevertheless, 
merely  relative.  The  faculties  of  our  minds  are  like 
the  aptitudes  of  our  bodies.  The  dancer's  strength 
is  in  his  legs;  the  blacksmith's  muscle  is  in  his 
arms;  the  strong  porter  in  the  market  practices 
carrying  heavy  loads;  the  singer  cultivates  his 
larynx,  and  the  pianist  trains  his  wrists.  A  banker 
grows  accustomed  to  combining  business  operations, 
to  studying  his  affairs  and  setting  various  interests 
in  motion,  as  the  playwright  strives  to  combine 
situations,  to  study  subjects  and  to  give  life  to  his 


294  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

characters.  It  is  as  unfair  to  expect  witty  conver- 
sation from  the  Baron  de  Nucingen  as  it  would  be 
to  demand  poetic  imagery  in  the  demonstration  of 
a  mathematician.  How  many  poets  are  there  in  an 
epoch  who,  in  the  common  intercourse  of  life,  talked 
as  wittily  or  elegantly  as  Madame  Cornuel  ?  Buffon 
was  heavy ;  Newton  never  loved ;  Lord  Byron  loved 
nobody  except  himself;  Rousseau  was  gloomy  and 
half  mad,  and  La  Fontaine  was  heedless  of  others. 
If  it  be  equally  distributed,  intellect  produces  fools 
or  mediocrity  everywhere;  if  it  be  divided  un- 
equally it  engenders  those  differences  to  which  we 
give  the  name  of  genius,  and  which,  if  they  could 
take  visible  shape,  would  appear  deformities.  The 
same  law  rules  the  body ;  perfect  beauty  is  almost 
invariably  accompanied  by  want  of  animation,  or 
stupidity.  That  Pascal  should  be  at  once  a  great 
geometrician  and  a  great  writer;  thatBeaumarchais 
should  be  an  admirable  man  of  business,  and  that 
Zamet  should  be  a  skillful  courtier,  are  rare  ex- 
ceptions that  confirm  the  principle  of  the  differen- 
tiation of  intelligence.  In  the  sphere  of  specula- 
tive calculations  the  banker  employs  as  much  wit, 
address  and  shrewdness  as  an  astute  diplomatist 
does  in  that  of  national  interests.  Were  the 
banker  still  remarkable  outside  of  his  office  he 
would  be  a  great  man.  Nucingen  multiplied  by  the 
Prince  de  Ligne,  by  Mazarin,  or  by  Diderot  is  a 
human  formula  that  is  almost  impossible ;  and  yet 
it  exists  under  the  names  of  Pericles,  Aristotle, 
Voltaire,  and  Napoleon.  The  glory  of  the  imperial 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN         295 

sun  ought  not  to  hamper  a  man  in  his  private  life; 
the  Emperor  was  well-informed,  witty  and  fascin- 
ating. M.  de  Nucingen,  purely  banker,  and  like 
most  bankers,  without  the  inventive  faculty,  apart 
from  his  calculations,  believed  solely  in  absolute 
values.  In  matters  of  art,  he  had  the  good  sense  to 
apply,  with  his  purse  in  his  hand,  to  experts,  and 
always  secured  the  best  architect,  the  best  surgeon, 
the  finest  connoisseur  of  pictures  or  statues,  the 
most  able  lawyer,  whenever  he  was  interested  in 
building  a  house,  in  watching  over  his  health,  in 
the  purchase  of  a  curiosity,  or  of  an  estate.  But 
since  there  does  not  exist  an  avowed  expert  in 
intrigues,  nor  a  connoisseur  in  passions,  a  banker  is 
at  a  disadvantage  when  he  loves,  and  in  a  sorry 
plight  when  he  attempts  the  management  of  a 
woman.  Nucingen  could  contrive  nothing  better 
than  to  follow  his  old  path  and  give  money  to  some 
male  or  female  Frontin  to  act  or  think  for  him. 
Madame  de  Sainte  Esteve  alone  could  put  the 
baroness'  suggestion  into  practice,  and  the  banker 
regretted  bitterly  that  he  had  ever  quarreled  with 
the  odious  procuress.  Nevertheless,  confident  of 
the  magnetism  of  his  cheque  book,  and  of  the 
sedative  effect  of  drafts  signed  Garat,  he  rang  for 
his  valet  and  bade  him  find  the  horrible  widow  in 
the  rue  Neuve-Saint-Marc,  and  ask  her  to  come  to 
his  house.  In  Paris  extremes  meet  on  the  com- 
mon ground  of  passion.  There  vice  welds  together 
rich  and  poor,  small  and  great;  the  Empress 
consults  with  Mademoiselle  Lenormand,  and  the 


296  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

noble  lord   can    always    find    a    Ramponneau    in 
every  century. 

The  new  valet  returned  two  hours  later. 

"Madame  de  Saint  Esteve  is  ruined,  sir,"  he 
announced. 

"Ach,  zo  much  ze  petter!"  exclaimed  the  baron 
joyously.  "Zen  I  haf  her." 

"The  good  woman  is  apparently  rather  fond  of 
gambling,"  replied  the  valet  "Furthermore,  she 
is  under  the  thumb  of  a  low  comedian  of  one  of  the 
theatres  in  the  suburbs,  whom,  for  decency's  sake, 
she  tries  to  pass  off  as  her  god-son.  It  seems  she 
is  an  excel  lent  cook,  and  is  looking  for  asituation. " 

"Zese  tefilish  beddy  cheniuses  haf  den  vays  of 
making  money  ant  ein  tossen  vays  of  sbenting  it," 
said  the  baron  to  himself,  quite  ignorant  that  he 
was  uttering  the  sentiments  of  Panurge. 

He  despatched  his  servant  again  in  quest  of 
Madame  de  Saint  Esteve,  who  did  not  make  her 
appearance  until  the  next  day.  Interrogated  by  Asia 
the  new  valet  disclosed  to  the  she-detective  the 
terrible  results  of  the  letters  written  by  the  baron's 
mistress. 

1  "He  must  dote  upon  that  woman,"  said  the  valet 
in  conclusion,  "for  he  very  nearly  died.  I  myself 
advised  him  never  to  return  to  her,  for  she  would 
twist  him  about  her  finger  in  no  time.  The  woman 
has  cost  the  baron  five  hundred  thousand  francs 
already,  people  say,  without  counting  the  sums  he 
has  spent  on  the  little  house  in  the  Rue  Saint 
Georges!  But  she  wants  money,  and  nothing  but 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN         297 

money.  When  the  baroness  left  my  master's  room 
she  exclaimed  laughingly,  'If  this  goes  on,  that 
woman  will  make  me  a  widow.'  " 

"The  devil!"  answered  Asia.  "It  will  never  do 
to  kill  the  hen  that  lays  the  golden  eggs." 

"The  baron  rests  all  his  hopes  upon  you,"  said 
the  valet 

"Ah,  that's  because  I  know  the  way  to  come 
round  a  woman." 

"Go  in,  then,"  said  the  valet,  bowing  low  before 
this  occult  power. 

"So,  you  are  meeting  with  some  trifling  annoy- 
ance, sir,"  said  the  pseudo  Madame  de  Saint  Esteve, 
as  she  entered  the  sick-room  with  an  humble 
air.  "What  can  you  expect?  Everybody  is  attacked 
in  their  weak  spot.  I,  too,  have  seen  misfortune. 
In  two  months  fortune's  wheel  has  played  me  an  odd 
turn,  for  here  I  am  looking  for  a  situation.  Neither 
of  us  has  been  reasonable.  If  you  were  willing  to 
give  me  the  position  of  cook  in  Madame  Esther's 
household,  you  would  find  in  me  the  truest  of  the 
true,  and  1  would  be  very  useful  in  watching 
Eugenie  and  madame. " 

"Eet  has  nodding  to  to  mit  zat,"  said  the  baron. 
"I  gannot  sugzeed  in  begoming  ze  masder  ant  I  am 
dvirled  apout  like — " 

"A  top,"  interrupted  Asia.  "You have  managed 
everybody  else,  papa,  but  the  little  girl  has  you  in 
her  power,  and  is  amusing  herself  at  your  expense. 
Heaven  is  just!" 

"Chust!"    ejaculated    the    baron.      "I    tit    not 


298  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

zent  for  you  een  orter  to  hear   you  dalk  apout 
moral  idy." 

"Bah,  my  boy,  a  little  morality  hurts  nobody. 
It's  the  salt  of  life  for  such  as  we,  just  as  vice  is 
for  devotees.  Tell  me:  Did  you  act  generously ? 
Did  you  pay  her  debts?" 

"Yes,"  whined  the  baron. 

"That  was  right  You  have  redeemed  her 
property,  that  was  still  better.  But  be  very  sure, 
this  is  not  enough.  You  have  not  as  yet  given  her 
anything  to  do,  and  these  women  do  love  to  cut  a 
figure." 

"I  am  breparing  ein  leetle  surbrize  for  her  in  Rue 
Saint  Chorches.  Zhe  knows  eet,  put  I  ton't  vish 
to  pe  ein  ass." 

"Very  well  then,  leave  her." 

"I  am  avraid  zatzhevould  led  me  go,"  exclaimed 
the  baron. 

"And  we  wish  her  in  return  for  our  money,  my 
boy,"  replied  Asia.     "Listen!    We  have  squeezed 
millions  out  of  the  public.     People  say  that  you 
have  twenty-five." 
,     The  baron  could  not  repress  a  smile. 

"Well  then,  you  must  let  one  go." 

"I  vould  glatly  led  eet  go,"  answered  the  baron, 
"put  no  zooner  zhall  I  have  led  ze  virst  go  zan  zey 
vill  temant  ein  segond." 

"Yes,  I  understand,"  replied  Asia.  "You  do  not 
wish  to  say  B,  for  fear  of  going  all  the  way  to  Z. 
Yet  Esther  is  an  honest  woman." 

"Mosd  vunterfully  honesd!"  cried  the  banker. 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN         299 

"She  ees  villing  to  sguare  aggounts,  put  az  eef  zhe 
vere  baying  ein  tebd. " 

"In  short,  she  doesn't  wish  to  be  your  mistress ;  she 
feels  some  repugnance.  I  can  imagine  it;  the  child 
has  always  obeyed  her  whims.  When  a  woman 
knows  only  charming  young  men,  an  old  gentleman 
doesn't  look  attractive.  You  are  not  handsome.  You 
are  fat  as  Louis  XVIII.  and  a  trifle  dull,  as  every  man 
is  who  wheedles  fortune  and  lets  women  alone.  Now 
then,  if  you  have  six  hundred  thousand  francs  to 
spare,"  added  Asia,  "I  will  guarantee  that  she  shall 
become  everything  you  could  wish  her  to  be." 

"Zix  huntert  tausent  vrancs,"  cried  the  baron 
making  a  slight  start,  "Esder  has  gost  me  ein  mill- 
ion alreaty." 

"Happiness  is  well  worth  sixteen  hundred  thou- 
sand francs,  my  fat  rascal.  You  know  men  to-day 
who  have  run  through  more  than  two  millions  with 
their  mistresses.  I  know  women  who  have  even  cost 
lives;  women  for  whom  men  have  been  guillotined. 
You  remember  that  doctor  who  poisoned  his  friend  ? 
He  wished  for  money  in  order  to  secure  a  woman's 
happiness." 

"  Yez,  I  rememper ;  put  eef  I  am  een  luff,  I  am  not 
an  itiot,  ad  leasd  here;  vor  ven  I  zee  her  I  vould 
glatly  gif  her  mein  bockedpook. " 

"Listen,  sir,"  said  Asia,  striking  the  pose  of 
aSemiramis.  "You  have  been  cleaned  out  enough. 
As  truly  as  my  business  name  is  Saint  Est&ve,  I 
am  on  your  side*" 

"Gut,  I  vill  revart  you," 


300  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

"I  believe  it,  for  I  have  shown  you  that  I  know 
how  to  revenge  myself.  Besides,  remember  this, 
papa,"  she  added,  with  a  terrible  look  at  the  baron. 
"I  have  the  means  of  putting  an  end  to  Esther,  as 
easily  as  I  could  extinguish  a  candle.  I  know  my 
woman!  When  the  little  wretch  has  made  you 
happy,  she  will  be  still  more  necessary  to  you  than 
she  is  at  this  moment.  You  have  paid  me  well, 
you  had  to  be  dunned  enough,  but  you  did  pay  the 
piper.  For  my  part,  I  fulfilled  my  engagements, 
didn't  I  ?  And  now  I  am  going  to  propose  a  bargain. ' ' 

"Whatees  eet?" 

"You  give  me  a  situation  as  cook  in  Madame 
Esther's  house;  you  engage  me  for  ten  years.  I 
have  a  thousand  francs  a  year;  you  pay  the  last 
five  years  in  advance,  as  earnest  money;  what  does 
that  amount  to  ?  Once  settled  in  madame's  house 
I  shall  find  means  of  inducing  her  to  grant  the  follow- 
ing concessions :  for  instance,  you  order  an  entranc- 
ing gown  of  Madame  Auguste,  who  knows  madame's 
taste  and  style,  and  you  give  directions  for  the  new 
carriage  to  be  at  the  door  at  four  o'clock.  After 
the  Stock  Exchange  you  go  and  see  her,  and  then 
take  a  short  drive  in  the  Bois  de  Boulogne.  In  this 
way  the  girl  confesses  that  she  is  your  mistress,  and 
pledges  herself  to  you  in  the  sight  of  all  Paris.  One 
hundred  thousand  francs.  You  dine  with  her — I 
know  how  to  make  a  dinner  such  as  you  want — ; 
you  take  her  to  a  stage  box  at  the  theatre,  the 
Varietes,  for  instance;  and  all  Paris  says,  'There's 
that  old  rogue  Nucingen  with  his  mistress.'  And 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN          301 

it's  rather  complimentary  that  you  should  be  thought 
so.  All  these  advantages,  as  I  am  an  honest  woman, 
are  comprised  in  the  first  hundred  thousand  francs. 
In  this  way  you  will  have  made  great  progress 
before  a  week  is  over." 

"1  zhall  haf  sbent  ein  huntert  tausent  vrancs. " 
"The  second  week,"  continued  Asia,  who  did  not 
seem  to  hear  this  piteous  exclamation,  "madame 
will  be  persuaded  by  these  preliminaries  to  leave 
her  little  apartment  and  to  take  up  her  abode  in  the 
house  you  offer  her.  By  this  time  your  Esther  has 
tasted  the  world  again,  and  has  met  her  old  com- 
panions ;  she  will  be  eager  to  shine,  and  will  do  the 
honors  of  her  palace.  This  is  in  the  law  of  nature. 
Another  hundred  thousand  francs!  Lord,  sir!  you 
have  got  what  you  wanted ;  Esther  is  compromised, 
she  is  yours.  The  rest  is  simple,  for  you  play  the 
principal  part,  you  old  elephant — that  makes  the  fat 
monster  open  his  eyes — .  Very  well,  then,  I'll 
undertake  it  myself.  Four  hundred  thousand.  But 
you  won't  have  to  give  them  until  the  day  after, 
old  fellow.  Isn't  that  honest?  I  have  more  con- 
fidence in  you  than  you  have  in  me.  If  I  per- 
suade madame  to  appear  in  public  as  your  mis- 
tress, to  compromise  herself,  to  accept  all  that 
you  give  her,  and  all  this  to-day,  perhaps  you 
will  believe  me  capable  of  inducing  her  to  sur- 
render her  last  redoubt  It's  difficult,  for  it  is  as 
much  work  for  you  to  drag  your  artillery  there 
as  it  was  for  the  First  Consul  to  draw  his  over 
the  Alps." 


302  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

"Vy?" 

"Her  heart  is  overflowing  with  love,  rasibus,  as 
you  people  who  know  Latin  say,"  replied  Asia. 
"She  thinks  herself  a  Queen  of  Sheba,  because  she 
has  bathed  herself  in  the  sacrifices  which  she  has 
made  for  her  lover.  It's  an  idea  that  women  take 
into  their  heads!  Ah,  my  boy,  we  must  be  fair; 
it's  only  right  that  we  should.  The  little  goose 
might  die  of  sorrow  because  she  belonged  to  you, 
and  I  should  not  be  very  much  surprised ;  but  one 
thing  reassures  me,  and  to  raise  your  spirits  I'll  tell 
you  that  she's  a  courtesan  at  heart" 

"You  haf  a  chenius  vor  gorrubtion,"  said  the 
baron,  who  had  listened  to  Asia  in  silent  admira- 
tion. "Chust  as  I  haf  a  chenius  vor  panking." 

"Is  it  a  bargain,  my  duck?"  said  Asia. 

"Done  vor  feefdy  tausent  vrancs  eenztead  of  ein 
huntert  tausent,  ant  ze  morning  afder  mein  driumph 
I  vill  gif  you  fife  huntert  tausent" 

"Well  then,  I'll  go  about  my  work,"  answered 
Asia.  "Ah,  you  can  come,"  continued  she  respect- 
fully. "You  will  find  madame  already  as  sweet  as 
honey,  and  perhaps  disposed  to  be  kind." 

"Go,  go,  meine  gut  vooman,"  said  the  baron 
rubbing  his  hands. 

Then,  after  a  smile  toward  the  hideous  mulatto 
woman,  he  said  to  himielf : 

"How  fery  nezzessary  eet  ees  to  haf  blenty  of 
money." 

He  jumped  out  of  bed,  went  to  his  desk  and  took 
up  the  threads  of  his  vast  business  with  a  light  heart 


Nothing  could  be  more  fatal  for  Esther  than  the 
plan  which  Nucingen  had  adopted.  When  she 
fought  against  infidelity  the  poor  courtesan  was 
fighting  for  her  life.  Natural  as  this  defense  was, 
Carlos  called  it  silly  prudery.  Without  disregard- 
ing the  precautions  employed  in  such  cases,  Asia 
lost  no  time  in  informing  Carlos  of  the  interview 
she  had  had  with  the  baron,  and  how  she  had 
turned  it  to  account  Carlos'  anger  was  terrible  as 
himself;  he  took  a  carriage  on  the  spot  and,  with 
the  curtains  drawn,  drove  into  Esther's  courtyard. 
This  double  forger  was  still  pale  with  rage  as  he 
went  up  stairs  and  appeared  before  the  poor  girl. 
She  was  standing  as  she  looked  at  him,  then  her 
legs  gave  way  beneath  her,  and  she  fell  back  into 
an  armchair.  "What  do  you  want,  sir  ?"  she  asked, 
trembling  in  every  limb. 

"Leave  us,  Europe,"  said  he.  Esther  looked  at 
the  maid  as  a  child  looks  at  the  mother  from  whose 
side  he  is  torn  by  a  blood-thirsty  assassin. 

"Do  you  know  where  you  are  driving  Lucien?" 
said  Carlos,  when  he  was  left  alone  with  Esther. 

"Where?"  she  asked  in  a  faint  voice  as  she 
glanced  fearfully  at  her  executioner. 

"To  the  place  I  have  come  from,  my  jewel." 

The  room  swam  before  Esther's  eyes  as  she 
looked  at  the  man. 

(303) 


304  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

"To  the  galleys!"  he  added  in  a  low  voice. 

Esther's  eyes  closed,  her  legs  grew  limp,  her  arms 
fell  to  her  side ;  she  grew  very  white.  The  man 
rang  and  Prudence  appeared. 

"Bring her  back  to  consciousness,"  said  he  coolly, 
"I  have  not  finished." 

He  paced  up  and  down  the  room  while  he  waited. 
Prudence  Europe  was  obliged  to  beg  him  to  place 
Esther  on  the  bed;  he  lifted  her  with  a  facility  that 
betokened  the  strength  of  an  athlete.  The  most 
violent  remedies  of  the  apothecary  were  needed  to 
restore  Esther  to  the  remembrance  of  her  sorrows. 
An  hour  later  the  poor  girl  recovered  strength 
enough  to  listen  to  the  living  nightmare,  who  sat  on 
the  foot  of  the  bed,  his  eyes  fixed  and  glistening 
like  two  drops  of  molten  lead. 

"Sweetheart,"  he  said,  "Lucien  stands  between 
a  life  that  is  brilliant,  honored,  fitting,  happy,  and 
the  muddy  ditch  filled  with  slime  and  gravel,  on  the 
verge  of  which  he  stood  when  I  rescued  him.  The 
Grandlieu  family  demand  that  your  darling  possess 
an  estate  worth  a  million  before  they  secure  for  him 
the  title  of  marquis  and  present  him  with  that  great 
catch,  called  Clotilde,  by  whose  aid  he  will  climb  to 
power.  Thanks  to  us  both,  Lucien  has  just  bought 
his  maternal  manor,  the  old  Chateau  de  Rubempre. 
It  didn't  cost  much, — thirty  thousand  francs — but 
his  attorney  by  fortunate  negotiations  has  succeeded 
in  adding  to  it  about  a  million's  worth  of  real  estate, 
on  which  three  hundred  thousand  francs  have  been 
paid.  The  chateau,  the  costs  and  the  premiums 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN         305 

paid  to  those  whom  we  brought  forward  in  order  to 
disguise  our  operations  from  the  neighborhood,  have 
absorbed  the  rest.  We  have,  it  is  true,  invested  a 
hundred  thousand  francs  which  a  few  months  hence 
will  be  worth  from  two  to  three  hundred  thousand 
francs;  but  this  will  still  leave  a  deficit  of  four  hun- 
dred thousand  francs.  In  three  days  Lucien  will 
return  from  Angoule'me,  whither  he  went  in  order 
to  avoid  suspicion  of  having  made  his  fortune  through 
your  intrigues." 

"Oh,  no,"  said  she,  looking  upwards  with  an 
exalted  expression. 

"I  ask  you  whether  this  is  the  moment  to  scare 
the  baron?"  said  he  quietly;  "yet  the  day  before 
yesterday  you  almost  killed  him.  When  he  read 
your  second  letter  he  fainted  like  a  woman.  You 
have  an  imperious  style,  and  I  compliment  you 
upon  it.  If  the  baron  were  dead,  what  would  be- 
come of  us?  When  Lucien  walks  out  from  Saint 
Thomas  Aquinas'  as  the  son-in-law  of  the  Due  de 
Grandlieu,  if  you  really  wish  for  the  Seine,  my 
love,  I'll  offer  you  my  arm,  and  we'll  make  the 
plunge  together.  That's  one  way  of  ending.  But 
think  it  over;  would  it  not  be  better  to  live  and  be 
able  to  say  over  and  over  again,  'How  brilliant  his 
fortune  is!  What  a  happy  family!'  For  he  will 
have  children.  Children  !  Have  you  ever  imagined 
the  delight  of  passing  your  fingers  through  the  hair 
of  his  children?" 

Esther  closed  her  eyes;  a  slight  tremor  passed 
over  her. 
20 


306  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

"And  when  you  see  the  edifice  of  his  happiness 
complete,  you  can  say,  'It  was  my  work!'  " 

He  paused  and  these  two  beings  gazed  at  each 
other. 

"This  is  what  I  have  tried  to  make  of  a  despair- 
ing wretch  on  the  verge  of  suicide.  Am  I  an  egoist  ? 
This  is  how  I  love  him !  A  man  devotes  himself 
thus  to  his  king  alone;  but  I  have  crowned  him 
king — Lucien!  Should  they  rivet  me  to  my  old 
chains  for  the  rest  of  my  days  I  think  that  I  should 
stay  there  content,  while  I  repeated  to  myself,  'He 
is  at  the  ball ;  be  is  at  court '  My  mind  and  thoughts 
would  triumph,  though  my  carcass  were  given  up  to 
the  tormentors.  You  are  nothing  but  a  miserable 
woman,  and  you  love  as  a  woman  loves !  But  love 
might  be,  in  a  courtesan  as  in  any  degraded  creature, 
the  means  of  making  you  a  mother  in  spite  of  that 
nature  which  has  smitten  you  with  barrenness.  But 
I !  if  ever  they  should  detect  the  criminal  that  I  have 
been,  beneath  the  gown  of  Carlos  Herrera,  do  you 
know  what  I  would  do  in  order  to  avoid  compromis- 
ing Lucien?" 

Esther  awaited  his  answer  in  a  kind  of  strange 
anxiety. 

"I  would  die,"  continued  he  after  a  short  pause ; 
"I  would  die  like  the  negroes,  by  swallowing  my 
tongue,  and  you,  with  all  your  airs  and  graces,  point 
out  my  way  to  me.  What  is  it  I  have  asked  of  you  ? 
To  wear  once  more  the  garb  of  La  Torpille  for  six 
months,  for  six  weeks,  and  to  use  it  to  secure  a 
million.  Lucien  will  never  forget  you.  Men  don't 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN         307 

forget  the  being  who  is  recalled  to  their  remem- 
brance by  the  happiness  which  they  enjoy  anew 
every  morning  when  they  awake  to  find  themselves 
rich.  Lucien  is  worth  more  than  you.  He  began 
by  loving  Coralie;  she  died  well  and  good;  he  did 
not  have  a  penny  with  which  to  bury  her,  but  poet 
as  he  was,  he  didn't  do  as  you  did  a  moment  ago,  he 
didn't  swoon ;  he  wrote  six  drinking  songs  and  earned 
three  hundred  francs  to  pay  for  Coral ie's  burial. 
I  have  those  songs,  I  know  them  by  heart  Go  and 
do  likewise;  compose  your  songs ;  be  gay!  be  wild! 
be  irresistible!  and  be  insatiable.  You  have  under- 
stood me  ?  Don't  ask  me  to  say  more.  Kiss  papa. 
Adieu." 

Half  an  hour  later,  when  Europe  entered  her  mis- 
tress' room,  she  found  her  kneeling  before  a  crucifix 
in  the  pose  that  the  most  religious  of  painters  gave 
to  Moses  before  the  bush  of  Horeb,  when  he  sought 
to  depict  his  deep  and  perfect  adoration  before 
Jehovah.  When  she  had  uttered  her  last  prayer, 
Esther  renounced  her  fair  life,  the  honor  which  she 
had  won,  her  glory,  her  virtue,  and  her  love.  She 
rose. 

"Oh,  madame,  you  will  never  be  like  this  again !" 
exclaimed  Prudence  Servien,  motionless  before  the 
sublime  beauty  of  her  mistress. 

She  turned  the  mirror  quickly  so  that  the  poor 
girl  could  see  herself.  Her  eyes  still  retained  a 
portion  of  the  soul  that  was  leaving  her  for  heaven. 
The  complexion  of  the  Jewess  was  brilliant  Steeped 
in  tears  and  dried  by  the  fire  of  prayer,  her  eyelashes 


308  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

looked  like  foliage  after  a  summer's  rain;  the 
sun  of  pure  love  was  lighting  them  for  the  last  time. 
The  expression  of  her  lips  was  as  if  she  had  uttered 
her  last  invocation  to  the  angels,  from  whom,  no 
doubt,  she  had  borrowed  the  martyr's  palm  and  to 
whose  keeping  she  had  entrusted  her  life  without 
spot.  In  a  word,  she  possessed  the  majesty  which 
must  have  transfigured  Mary  Stuart,  when  she  bade 
good-bye  to  her  crown,  to  earth  and  to  love. 

"I  wish  that  Lucien  could  have  seen  me  thus," 
said  she,  with  a  stifled  sob.  "But  now, "  she  added 
in  a  rasping  voice,  "to  humbug." 

As  Europe  heard  this  word  she  stood  stupefied  as 
if  she  had  heard  an  angel  blaspheme. 

"Why  do  you  look  at  me  as  though  my  teeth  had 
become  cloves?  I  am  nothing  now  but  a  vile  and 
infamous  creature,  a  woman  of  the  streets,  a  thief, 
and  I  am  waiting  for  milord.  Heat  me  a  bath  and 
bring  me  my  gown.  It's  twelve  o'clock;  the  baron 
will  certainly  come  on  his  way  from  the  Stock  Ex- 
change. I  will  tell  him  that  I  have  been  expecting 
him.  I  want  Asia  to  serve  him  a  dainty  dinner, 
and  I  mean  to  drive  him  to  distraction.  Come, 
Europe,  make  haste ;  we  are  going  to  be  merry,  and 
that  means  that  we  are  going  to  set  to  work. " 

She  sat  down  at  her  table  and  wrote  the  following 
letter : 

"Mv  FRIEND: 

"Had  the  cook  you  sent  me  yesterday  never 
been  in  my  service,  I  should  have  thought  it 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN         309 

was  your  intention  to  inform  me  of  the  number  of 
fainting  fits  that  you  experienced  the  day  before 
yesterday  upon  the  receipt  of  my  three  notes.  You 
must  excuse  me,  I  was  dreadfully  nervous  on  that 
day,  for  I  was  brooding  over  reminiscences  of  my 
deplorable  existence.  But  I  know  Asia's  sincerity. 
I  do  not  repent  of  having  caused  you  some  sorrow, 
since  it  has  served  to  prove  how  dearly  you  hold 
me.  We  poor  despised  creatures  are  ever  thus: 
true  affection  touches  us  far  more  than  to  see  our- 
selves the  object  of  wild  extravagance.  I  myself 
have  always  been  afraid  of  becoming  the  peg  on 
which  you  hang  your  vanity.  I  was  sad  that  I 
could  be  nothing  else  for  you.  Yes,  in  spite  of  your 
loud  protestations  I  thought  that  you  took  me  for  a 
bought  woman,  and  now  you  will  find  me  disposed 
to  be  kind,  but  on  condition  that  you  will  never 
be  wholly  disobedient  If  this  letter  can  replace 
your  doctor's  prescriptions,  you  will  prove  it  to  me 
by  coming  to  see  me  immediately  after  leaving  the 
Stock  Exchange.  You  will  find,  dressed  in  her  best 
and  loaded  with  your  gifts,  her,  who  signs  herself 
for  life, 

"Your  pleasure  machine, 

"ESTHER." 

At  the  Exchange  the  Baron  de  Nucingen  was  so 
gay,  happy  and  pleasant,  and  allowed  himself  to  be 
the  butt  of  so  many  jokes  that  Du  Tillet  and  Keller, 
who  were  present,  could  not  refrain  from  asking  him 
the  reason  of  his  hilarity. 


310  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

"I  am  luffed.  Zat  house-varming  vill  gomezoon," 
said  he  to  Du  Tillet. 

1 '  How  much  does  it  cost  you  ?' '  demanded  Francois 
Keller  brusquely.  People  said  that  Madame  Colle- 
ville  had  cost  Francois  twenty-five  thousand  francs 
a  year. 

"Zis  vooman  ees  eine  anchel;  zhe  has  nefer 
asked  me  vor  ein  single  benny." 

"They  never  do,"  replied  Du  Tillet  "They 
provide  themselves  with  aunts  and  mothers  so  that 
they  need  ask  for  nothing  for  themselves." 

On  the  way  from  the  Exchange  to  the  Rue  Tait- 
bout,  the  baron  said  seven  times  to  his  coachman : 

"You  are  nod  moofmg.     Vip  ze  horse." 

He  climbed  the  stairs  hurriedly,  and  for  the 
first  time  he  saw  his  mistress  beautiful  as  are  those 
women  whose  only  occupation  is  the  care  of  their 
garments  and  of  their  beauty.  Fresh  from  the  bath, 
the  flower  was  sweet  and  so  perfumed  that  Robert 
d'Arbrissel  would  have  been  conquered.  Esther 
was  dressed  with  fascinating  unconventionality. 
A  jacket  of  black  reps  adorned  with  trimmings  of 
rose-colored  silk  was  left  open  to  disclose  a  skirt 
of  gray  satin,  the  costume  that  was  worn  later  by 
the  fair  Amigo,  in  /  Puritani.  A  scarf  of  English 
point  lace  fell  loosely  from  her  shoulders.  The 
sleeves  of  her  gown  were  caught  in  with  cording, 
so  as  to  divide  the  puffs,  which  for  some  time  past 
had  replaced  the  overgrown  leg-of-mutton  sleeves, 
discarded  by  fashionable  women.  Esther  had  pinned 
upon  her  splendid  hair  a  cap  of  Mechlin  lace,  of  the 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN         31! 

style  known  as  d.  lafolle,  always  ready  to  fall,  yet 
never  falling,  which  gave  her  an  appearance  of  un- 
combed disorder,  although  the  straight  white  part 
was  distinctly  visible  on  her  little  head  between 
the  heavy  locks  of  hair. 

"Is  it  not  dreadful  to  see  madame  so  beautiful  and 
sitting  in  a  shabby  room  like  this?"  said  Europe  to 
the  baron  as  she  opened  the  parlor  door. 

"Zen  gome  to  ze  Rie  Saint  Chorches,"  replied 
the  baron  as  he  stood  motionless  in  the  doorway, 
like  a  dog  before  a  partridge.  "Ze  weader  ees 
magneeficent;  ve  vill  dake  ein  valk  een  ze  Jamps 
Elusees,  ant  Montame  Saind  Esdefeniit  Ichenie  vill 
dransbort  all  your  glothes  ant  leenen  ant  our  tinner 
to  ze  Rie  Saint  Chorches." 

"  I  will  do  everything  that  you  wish, ' '  said  Esther, 
"if  you  will  be  so  kmd  as  to  call  my  cook,  Asia,  and 
Eugenie,  Europe.  I  have  given  these  names  to  all 
the  women  who  have  served  me  since  the  first  two 
I  ever  had.  I  do  not  like  change." 

"Ada,  Irobe, "  repeated  the  baron,  laughing. 
"How  ott  you  are!  You  are  vull  of  imachination; 
I  zhould  haf  eaden  numperless  tinners  pefore  galling 
eine  cook  Acia. " 

"Oddity  is  our  nature,"  said  Esther.  "Can't 
a  poor  girl  be  fed  by  Asia  and  dressed  by 
Europe  when  you  live  on  the  whole  world?  It 
is  a  myth !  There  are  women  who  would  devour 
the  earth,  while  I  do  not  ask  for  more  than  half. — 
There!" 

"Vat  eine  vooman  Montame  Saind  Esdefe  ees!" 


312  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

thought  the  baron  as  he  admired  Esther's  change  of 
costume. 

"Europe,  my  girl,"  said  Esther,  "I  need  a  hat. 
1  ought  to  have  a  black  satin  cape  trimmed  with 
rose-color  and  lace." 

"Madame  Thomas  hasn't  sent  it.  Come,  baron, 
quickly;  away  with  you.  Begin  your  duties  of 
hard  labor,  that  is,  of  happiness;  for  pleasure  is  a 
heavy  burden!  You  have  your  carriage;  go  to 
Madame  Thomas, "  said  Europe  to  the  baron.  "Tell 
your  groom  to  ask  for  Madame  Van  Bogseck's  cape, 
and,  above  all,"  she  added  in  the  baron's  ear, 
"bring  her  back  the  prettiest  bouquet  in  Paris.  It 
is  winter,  so  try  to  get  tropical  flowers." 

The  baron  descended  the  stairs  and  said  to  his 
groom : 

"Montame  Dhomas. " 

The  coachman  drew  up  before  the  door  of  a 
famous  pastry-cook. 

"Id  ees  eine  milliner,  you  pig  plockhead,  nod  ein 
basdry-zhob, "  exclaimed  the  baron  as  he  hurried 
away  to  the  Palais  Royal  to  Madame  Prevot's, 
where  he  had  a  bouquet  made  up  for  ten  louis, 
while  his  groom  went  to  find  the  fashionable 
milliner. 

As  he  walks  about  Paris,  the  superficial  observer 
wonders  what  fools  buy  the  fabulous  flowers  that 
decorate  the  windows  of  the  famous  florist,  and  the 
hot-house  fruits  of  the  European  Che  vet,  at  whose 
shop  alone,  if  we  except  the  Rocher  de  Cancale, 
there  is  to  be  seen  a  genuine  and  attractive  review  of 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN         313 

two  worlds.  Every  day  in  Paris  more  than  a  hun- 
dred infatuations  such  as  Nucingen's  spring  into 
being,  and  prove  their  reality  by  offering  upon 
bended  knee  rarities  that  queens  dare  not  afford,  to 
women  who,  in  Asia's  words,  love  to  cut  a  figure. 
Witnoutthis  little  detail  an  honest  bourgeoise  could 
not  understand  how  a  fortune  melts  in  the  hands  of 
these  creatures  whose  social  function,  according  to 
the  system  of  Fourier,  is  perhaps  to  repair  the 
disasters  of  avarice  and  cupidity.  These  dissipa- 
tions serve,  doubtless,  the  same  purpose  in  the 
social  body  that  the  incision  of  a  lancet  does  in  a 
too  plethoric  body.  In  two  months  Nucingen  had 
sprinkled  trade  with  more  than  two  hundred  thou- 
sand francs. 

When  the  elderly  lover  returned,  night  was  fall- 
ing, and  the  bouquet  was  useless.  In  winter  the  time 
for  going  to  the  Champs  Elysees  is  from  two  o'clock 
until  four;  nevertheless  the  carriage  proved  of 
service  in  transporting  Esther  from  the  Rue  Taitbout 
to  the  Rue  Saint  Georges,  where  she  took  possession 
of  the  leetle  balace.  Never  before,  let  us  say  it,  had 
Esther  been  the  object  of  such  worship,  nor  of  such 
profusion;  she  was  amazed  at  it,  but  after  the  pattern 
of  ungrateful  royalty  she  was  careful  not  to  display 
the  slightest  mark  of  surprise.  When  you  enter 
Saint  Peter's  at  Rome,  in  order  to  make  you  appre- 
ciate the  length  and  height  of  the  queen  of  cathe- 
drals, the  guide  points  out  the  little  finger  of  a 
statue  which,  though  it  is  of  vast  dimensions, 
appears  to  be  the  natural  size  of  a  little  finger. 


314  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

Descriptions,  however  necessary  they  may  be  to 
the  history  of  our  customs,  have  so  often  been 
criticised  that  in  this  place  we  must  imitate  the 
Roman  cicerone.  Thus  when  he  entered  the  din- 
ing-room, the  baron  could  not  refrain  from  asking 
Esther  to  feel  the  material  of  the  window  curtains, 
draped  with  regal  abundance,  lined  with  white 
watered  silk,  and  trimmed  with  embroidery  worthy 
of  the  gown  of  a  Portuguese  princess.  The  stuff  was 
made  of  silk  from  Canton,  and  on  it  the  patient 
Chinese  had  painted  the  birds  of  Asia  with  a  per- 
fection of  which  the  prototype  only  exists  upon  the 
vellum  parchments  of  the  Middle  Ages,  or  in  the 
missal  of  Charles  the  Fifth,  the  pride  of  the  imperial 
library  at  Vienna. 

"Eet  gost  dwo  tausent  vrancs  ze  yart  I  paught 
eet  of  ein  Milord  who  hat  prought  eet  vrom  ze 
Inties." 

"Very  pretty!  Charming!  How  pleasant  it  will 
be  to  drink  champagne  here,"  said  Esther;  "the 
foam  will  not  stain  the  tiles." 

"Oh,  madame,"  said  Europe,  "only  look  at  the 
carpet!" 

"Zince  zey  hattesignedze  garbed  vor  mein  frient 
ze  Tuke  Dorlonia,  who  vound  eet  too  tear,  1  dook  it 
vrom  him  vor  you,  vor  you  are  eine  gueen!"  ex- 
claimed Nucingen. 

By  some  chance  this  carpet,  the  work  of  one  of  our 
most  ingenious  designers,  harmonized  with  the 
most  fanciful  Chinese  drapery.  The  walls  painted 
by  Schinner  and  Leon  de  Lora,  represented  volup- 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN         315 

tuous  scenes  thrown  into  relief  by  carved  ebony, 
bought  for  a  goodly  sum  from  Dusommerard,  and 
forming  panels,  the  simple  gold  lines  of  which 
reflected  the  light  soberly.  Now  you  can  judge  of 
the  rest 

"You  have  done  well  to  bring  me  here,"  said 
Esther;  "I  shall  need  a  full  week  before  I  can  grow 
perfectly  accustomed  to  my  house,  and  lay  aside 
the  air  of  an  upstart" 

"Mein  house!"  repeated  the  baron  gleefully. 
"Zen  you  agzebt  eet?" 

"Yes,  a  thousand  times  yes,  you  stupid  animal," 
she  answered,  smiling. 

"Ze  animal  vas — " 

"Stupid  enough  to  be  caressed,"  said  she,  glanc- 
ing at  him. 

The  poor  lynx  took  Esther's  hand  and  pressed  it 
to  his  heart;  he  was  animal  enough  to  feel,  but  too 
stupid  to  find  a  word. 

"Zee  how  eet  peats  at  ein  leetle  vort  of  denter- 
ness!"  said  he. 

Nucingen  led  his  goddess  (cottess)  to  her  bedroom. 

"Oh!  madame,"  exclaimed  Eugenie,  "I  can't  stay 
here.  That  bed  looks  too  inviting." 

"And  so,"  said  Esther,  "I  wish  to  make  the 
magician  who  works  these  wonders  happy.  Come, 
my  fat  elephant,  after  dinner  we'll  go  to  the 
theatre.  I  am  famished  for  a  play." 


It  was  exactly  five  years  si  nee  Esther  had  been  to 
the  theatre.  At  this  time  all  Paris  was  flocking  to 
the  Porte  Saint  Martin  to  see  a  play  that  borrowed 
a  terrible  reality  from  the  power  of  the  actors, 
Richard  Darlington.  Like  all  ingenuous  natures, 
Esther  enjoyed  shuddering  with  terror  as  well  as 
melting  into  tears  of  tenderness. 

"Let's  go  to  see  Frederick  Lemaitre,"  said  she; 
"he  is  an  actor  I  adore." 

"Eet  ees  ein  zafage  trama,"  said  Nucingen,  who 
saw  that  he  was  suddenly  obliged  to  make  himself 
notorious. 

The  baron  despatched  his  servant  to  secure  one 
of  the  two  lower  stage  boxes.  Another  Parisian 
peculiarity!  When  success,  always  so  transitory 
in  its  nature,  fills  the  house  there  is  invariably 
a  stage  box  to  let  ten  minutes  before  the  cur- 
tain rises.  When  it  is  not  destined  to  receive  a 
Nucingen  and  his  mistress,  the  directors  reserve 
it  for  themselves.  Like  the  hot-house  fruits  of 
Chevet,  this  box  is  a  tax  levied  upon  the  whims  of 
the  Parisian  Olympia. 

It  is  needless  to  speak  of  the  table  service.  Nucin- 
gen had  amassed  three  several  services:   a  small 
set,  a  medium  set,  and  a  large  set.     All  the  dessert 
plates  and  dishes  of  the  large  set  were  of  embossed 
(3i7) 


318  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

silver  gilt  In  order  to  avoid  the  appearance  of  over- 
loading the  table  with  too  great  a  mass  of  gold  and 
silver,  the  baron  had  added  to  each  service,  dishes 
of  Dresden  china  of  the  most  charming  fragility, 
and  more  expensive  than  a  complete  silver  service. 
On  the  table,  the  linen  of  Saxony,  of  England, 
of  Flanders  and  of  France  rivaled  one  another  in 
the  perfection  of  their  damasked  flowers. 

At  dinner  it  was  the  baron's  turn  to  be  surprised 
as  he  tasted  Asia's  cooking. 

"lunterstant,"  said  he,  "vy  you  name  her  Acia; 
zis  ees  Aciatic  gookery." 

"Ah,  I  begin  to  believe  that  he  loves  me,"  said 
Esther  to  Europe;  "he  has  made  something  like  a 
joke." 

"I  haf  mate  odders,  doo,"  remarked  he. 

"He's  more  1  ike  Turcaret than  any  one  imagines," 
exclaimed  the  courtesan,  laughing  at  this  answer 
that  was  worthy  of  a  place  among  the  celebrated 
ingenuous  speeches  of  which  the  banker  had  been 
guilty. 

The  dishes  were  highly  seasoned  and  gave  the 
baron  such  a  fit  of  indigestion  that  he  was  obliged 
to  go  home  at  an  early  hour;  and  this  was  all  the 
pleasure  he  gathered  from  his  first  interview  with 
Esther.  At  the  play  he  was  obliged  to  leave  her 
between  the  acts  and  swallow  an  infinite  number  of 
glasses  of  eau  sucr'e&.  By  a  coincidence,  so  evidently 
the  result  of  forethought  that  it  could  not  be  called 
chance,  Tullia,  Mariette  and  Madame  du  Val  Noble 
were  at  the  play  that  evening.  Richard  Darlington 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN    3*9 

was  one  of  those  extreme,  yet  deserved  successes 
that  never  occur  except  in  Paris.  It  was  a  drama 
that  made  all  the  men  imagine  they  could  throw  their 
lawful  wives  out  of  the  window,  and  all  the  women 
were  delighted  to  see  themselves  unjustly  oppressed. 
The  women  said :  " This  is  intolerable !  We  are  too 
much  plagued — but  we  are  used  to  that  sort  of  thing !' ' 

A  creature  of  Esther's  beauty,  dressed  in  Esther's 
gown,  could  not  cut  a  figure  with  impunity  in  a 
front  box  of  the  Porte  Saint  Martin.  The  second 
act  had  scarcely  begun,  when  great  excitement 
arose  in  the  box  occupied  by  the  two  opera  dancers, 
owing  to  the  sudden  identification  of  the  beautiful 
stranger  with  La  Torpille. 

"Where  can  she  have  come  from?"  asked 
Mariette  of  Madame  du  Val  Noble.  "I  supposed 
that  she  had  been  drowned." 

"Is  it  she?  She  seems  to  me  a  hundred  times 
younger  and  lovelier  than  she  was  six  years  ago." 

"Perhaps  she  has  been  preserved  in  ice,  like 
Madame  d'Espard  and  Madame  Zayonchek,"  re- 
marked the  Count  de  Brambourg,  who  had  escorted 
the  three  women  to  the  play,  and  had  engaged  one 
of  the  lower  tier  of  boxes.  "Isn't  she  the  girl  you 
wished  to  send  me  to  wheedle  my  uncle?"  added 
he,  turning  to  Tullia. 

"Exactly,"  answered  the  singer.  "Du  Bruel,  go 
to  the  orchestra  and  see  whether  it's  really  she." 

"How  she  tosses  her  head!"  exclaimed  Madame 
du  Val  Noble,  making  use  of  an  admirable  expression 
from  the  vocabulary  of  women  of  her  class. 


320  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

"Oh!"  cried  the  Count  de  Brambourg,  "she  has 
the  right  to  do  so,  for  she's  with  my  friend,  the 
Baron  de  Nucingen.  I'm  going  to  them." 

"Can  that  be  the  pretended  Jeanne  d'Arc,  who 
has  overthrown  Nucingen  and  with  whose  praises 
we  have  been  deafened  for  the  past  three  months?" 
said  Mariette. 

"Good  evening,  baron,"  said  Philippe  Bridau, 
as  he  entered  Nucingen's  box.  "So  you  and  Made- 
moiselle Esther  are  married?  Mademoiselle,  I  am  a 
poor  officer,  whom  you  once  helped  out  of  a  scrape 
at  Issoudun — Philippe  Bridau." 

"  Don't  know  you, "  said  Esther,  looking  about  the 
house  with  her  opera  glass. 

"Montemoiselle's  name,"  observed  the  baron, 
"ees  no  longer  simply  Esther ;  her  name  ees  Matame 
te  Jamby  (Champy),  ein  leetle  esdate  zat  I  pought 
vor  her." 

"If  you  give  her  so  many  things, "  said  the  count, 
"the  ladies  who  are  with  me  say  that  Madame  de 
Champy  gives  herself  airs.  If  you  do  not  care  to 
remember  me,  deign  to  recollect  Mariette,  Tullia 
and  Madame  du  Val  Noble,"  added  this  upstart, 
who  had  ingratiated  himself  with  the  Dauphin 
through  the  support  of  the  Duke  de  Maufrigneuse. 

"If  your  ladies  are  so  good  to  me,  I  am  inclined 
to  be  very  polite  to  them,"  answered  Madame  de 
Champy  dryly. 

"Good!"  exclaimed  Philippe.  "They  are  very 
friendly;  they  have  even  surnamed  you  Jeanne 
d'Arc" 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN         321 

"Veil,  eef  zese  laties  vish  your  gombany,"  said 
Nucingen,  "I  vill  leaf  you  alone,  vor  I  haf  ofer- 
eaden.  Your  garriage  ant  your  zerfants  vill  gome 
vor  you.  Ze  tefil  take  Ada." 

"For  the  first  time  you  would  leave  me  alone!" 
said  Esther.  "Do  your  duty;  you  must  learn  to  die 
at  your  post.  I  shall  need  an  escort  going  out  If 
I  were  insulted  I  might  look  for  help  in  vain." 

The  egotism  of  the  old  millionaire  was  compelled 
to  yield  to  the  obligations  of  the  lover.  The  baron 
suffered  and  remained.  Esther  had  reasons  for  de- 
taining her  escort.  If  she  were  to  receive  her  old  ac- 
quaintances she  could  not  be  questioned  as  seriously 
in  company  as  she  might  be  alone.  Philippe 
Bridau  returned  hastily  to  his  box,  and  described 
the  state  of  things  to  the  three  ballet  dancers. 

"  Ah !  It  is  she  who  has  inherited  my  house  in  the 
Rue  Saint  Georges!"  remarked  Madame  du  Val  Noble 
bitterly,  for  in  the  language  of  her  class  she  was  afoot. 

"Probably,"  answered  the  colonel;  "Du  Tillet 
told  me  that  the  baron  has  spent  thrice  as  much  on 
the  house  as  your  poor  Falleix. " 

"Let's  go  and  see  her,"  said  Tullia. 

"No  indeed,"  replied  Mariette;  "she's  too  hand- 
some. I  shall  call  upon  her  at  her  house." 

"I  am  self-satisfied  enough  to  venture,"  said 
Tullia. 

Between  the  acts  the  leading  opera  dancer 
was  bold  enough  to  traverse  the  theatre  and  try  to 
renew  her  acquaintance  with  Esther,  who  confined 
herself  to  generalities. 

21 


322  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

"And  where  do  you  come  from,  my  dear  child?" 
inquired  the  dancer,  overcome  with  curiosity. 

"Oh!  I  have  spent  the  past  five  years  in  a  cha- 
teau among  the  Alps  with  an  English  speculator  who 
was  jealous  as  a  tiger.  I  called  him  speck,  for  short, 
because  he  was  smaller  than  the  bailiff  of  Ferrette. 
Then  I  fell  into  the  hands  of  a  banker,— -from 
Charylla  to  Sybdis,  as  Florine  says;  and  now  that  1 
have  come  back  to  Paris  I  am  so  eager  for  amuse- 
ment that  I  shall  become  a  perfect  carnival.  I  shall 
keep  open  house.  Ah !  I  must  make  up  for  five  years 
of  solitude,  and  I  am  beginning  to  make  myself 
amends.  Five  years  of  an  Englishman  is  too  much. 
According  to  the  programme  six  weeks  is  enough." 

"Did  the  baron  give  you  this  lace?" 

"No,  that  is  a  vestige  of  the  nabob.  Wasn't  I 
unlucky,  my  dear?  He  was  yellow  as  a  woman 
laughing  at  a  friend's  success.  I  supposed  that  he 
would  die  before  ten  months  were  up.  Bah,  he  was 
strong  as  an  Alp.  Distrust  every  man  who  says 
he  has  trouble  with  his  liver.  I  don't  want  to 
hear  them  talk  about  their  livers.  Lord  deliver 
me!  The  nabob  robbed  me;  he  died  without 
making  a  will  and  the  family  pushed  me  out  of 
doors  as  though  I  had  had  the  plague.  So  I  said 
to  this  fat  man,  'Pay  for  two.'  You  are  right  to 
call  me  Jeanne  d'Arc,  I  have  lost  England!  And 
perhaps  I  shall  be  burned — " 

"With  love?"  asked  Tullia. 

"Burned  alive,"  replied  Esther,  who  grew  dreamy 
at  this. 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN         323 

The  baron  laughed  uproariously  at  these  broad 
jests,  but  as  he  did  not  comprehend  them  instantly, 
his  laugh  sounded  like  a  forgotten  fuse  exploding 
after  a  show  of  fireworks  is  over. 

We  all  live  in  some  sphere  of  life,  and  the  in- 
habitants of  every  sphere  are  endowed  with  an 
equal  share  of  curiosity.  The  following  evening, 
at  the  Opera,  Esther's  return  was  the  talk  of  the 
green-room.  During  the  morning  hours  from  two 
to  four,  all  the  Paris  of  the  Champs  filysees  had 
recognized  La  Torpille  and  knew  that  she  was  the 
object  of  Nucingen's  adoration. 

"Do  you  know,"  said  Blondet  to  De  Marsay  in 
the  lobby  of  the  Opera,  "that  La  Torpille  dis- 
appeared the  very  day  after  we  had  recognized  her 
here  as  the  mistress  of  that  little  Rubempre?" 

At  Paris,  as  in  the  provinces,  nothing  is  secret 
The  police  of  the  Rue  de  Jerusalem  is  not  so  well 
organized  as  that  of  the  world,  where  every  one  is 
a  detective,  though  he  knows  it  not.  Carlos  had 
surmised  correctly  the  danger  of  Lucien's  position 
during  the  episode  in  the  Rue  Taitbout  and  in  the 
days  following  its  conclusion. 

There  does  not  exist  a  more  horrible  situation 
than  that  in  which  Madame  du  Val  Noble  was 
placed,  and  the  word  afoot  describes  it  perfectly. 
The  carelessness  and  prodigality  of  these  women 
prevent  them  from  thinking  of  the  future.  In  the 
exceptional  world  to  which  they  belong,  and  which 
is  far  more  amusing  and  witty  than  people  think, 
the  women  who  are  not  beautiful  with  that  absolute 


324  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

and  almost  unalterable  beauty,  so  easy  to  recog- 
nize, in  short  the  women  who  can  be  loved  only 
through  some  caprice,  alone  think  of  their  old 
age,  and  lay  by  a  fortune :  the  more  beautiful  they 
are,  the  more  improvident.  "So  you  are  saving 
your  income  for  fear  of  growing  ugly,"  Florine  once 
said  to  Mariette,  and  this  throws  light  on  one  of  the 
reasons  of  their  prodigality.  When  a  speculator 
commits  suicide,  when  a  spendthrift  comes  to  the 
end  of  his  tether,  these  women  fall  with  frightful 
rapidity  from  boundless  wealth  to  absolute  penury. 
Then  they  fall  into  the  power  of  the  pawnbroker ; 
they  sell  their  exquisite  jewels  for  a  song;  they 
contract  debts ;  they  do  anything  to  maintain  them- 
selves in  an  apparent  luxury,  which  allows  them 
to  recover  what  they  have  lost,  a  coffer  from  which 
they  can  draw.  These  heights  and  depths  of  their 
life  explain  very  clearly  the  vast  cost  of  an  intrigue, 
almost  always  managed  in  real  life  by  the  same 
method  that  Asia  had  employed  when  she  hooked 
— another  word  in  the  same  vocabulary — Nucingen 
to  Esther.  Besides,  those  who  know  their  Paris  well 
are  at  no  loss  to  guess  the  reason,  when  they  meet 
in  that  moving  and  tumultuous  bazaar,  the  Champs 
Elysees,  some  woman  in  a  hackney  cab,  whom  six 
months  or  a  year  before  they  had  noticed  in  a  car- 
riage, gorgeous  in  its  luxury  and  fashion.  "When 
you  fall  into  Sainte-Pelagie,  you  must  know  how 
to  bounce  back  to  the  Bois  de  Boulogne,"  Florine 
had  said  as  she  was  joking  with  Blondet  about  the 
little  Vicount  de  Portenduere.  A  few  wise  women 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN         325 

never  risk  this  contrast  They  remain  immured  in 
cheap  lodging  houses  or  else  expiate  their  profusion 
by  privations  such  as  travelers  suffer,  lost  in  some 
Sahara,  but  even  they  do  not  comprehend  the 
slightest  notion  of  economy.  They  venture  to 
masque  balls;  they  make  a  trip  into  the  country; 
they  dress  in  fine  clothes,  and  walk  on  the  boule- 
vards on  bright  days.  To  one  another  they  display 
that  devotion  which  is  the  distinctive  mark  of  pre- 
scribed classes.  Almsgiving  costs  little  to  the 
woman  on  the  crest  of  the  wave  who  says  to 
herself,  "To-morrow  I  shall  be  like  this."  The 
most  efficacious  protection,  however,  is  that  fur- 
nished by  women  who  deal  in  old  clothes.  When 
a  usurer  of  this  description  becomes  a  creditor,  she 
stirs  up  the  hearts  of  old  men  to  pay  off  the  mort- 
gage she  holds  on  hats  and  slippers.  Unable  to 
foresee  the  ruin  of  a  very  rich  and  shrewd  broker, 
Madame  du  Val  Noble  was  taken  unawares.  She 
had  been  accustomed  to  spend  Falleix's  money  for 
the  gratification  of  her  caprices  and  relied  upon 
him  for  her  future.  "How  could  I  have  expected 
this,"  said  she  to  Mariette,  "from  a  man  who  has 
always  been  such  a  good  fellow  ?"  In  almost  every 
class  of  society  the  good  fellow  is  a  generous  man 
who  lends  a  few  louis  here  and  there  without  asking 
for  repayment,  and  rules  his  conduct  in  accordance 
with  the  dictates  of  a  certain  refinement  beyond 
the  current,  enforced,  commonplace  morality.  Some 
men  called,  like  Nucingen,  virtuous  and  upright, 
have  ruined  their  benefactors,  while  others  who 


326  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

are  not  ignorant  of  the  police  court  are  extraor- 
dinarily honest  toward  women.  Perfect  virtue 
as  embodied  in  Alceste,  the  dream  of  Moliere,  is 
excessively  rare.  Yet  it  does  exist  everywhere, 
even  in  Paris.  The  good  fellow  is  the  product 
of  a  certain  grace  of  character  which  proves 
nothing.  A  man  is  thus,  just  as  a  cat  is  sleek,  or  a 
slipper  comfortable.  So,  according  to  the  general 
acceptance  of  the  expression  "good  fellow"  among 
women  of  this  class,  Falleix  should  have  warned  his 
mistress  of  his  failure  and  left  her  something  to  live 
upon.  D'Estourny,  the  genteel  swindler,  was  a 
good  fellow;  he  cheated  at  play,  but  he  had  put 
aside  thirty  thousand  francs  for  his  mistress.  Thus 
at  gay  suppers  women  answered  his  accusers: 
"It  makes  no  difference,  you  may  say  what  you 
will;  Georges  was  a  good  fellow;  he  had  charming 
manners,  he  deserved  a  better  fate. ' '  In  this  society 
women  mock  at  laws,  and  adore  a  certain  kind  of 
refinement;  they  can  sell  themselves,  as  Esther 
did,  for  some  secret  ideal  that  is  their  religion. 
After  saving,  with  great  difficulty,  a  few  jewels  from 
the  wreck  of  her  fortunes,  Madame  du  Val  Noble  sank 
beneath  the  weight  of  the  terrible  accusation  that 
she  had  ruined  Falleix.  She  had  reached  the  age 
of  thirty,  and,  although  she  was  in  all  the  fulness 
of  her  beauty,  yet  she  might  easily  pass  for  a 
woman  past  her  prime.  For  in  a  crisis  such  as  this 
a  woman  has  all  her  rivals  against  her.  Mariette, 
Florine  and  Tullia  received  their  friend  kindly  at 
dinner,  and  gave  her  some  assistance;  but  not 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN         327 

knowing  the  amount  of  her  debts  they  did  not  dare 
to  sound  the  depth  of  the  gulf.  An  interval  of  six 
years  amidst  the  fluctuations  of  the  Parisian  sea 
separated  La  Torpille  from  Madame  du  Val  Noble  too 
widely  to  allow  the  woman  afoot  to  turn  for  help  to 
the  woman  in  a  carriage ;  but  Madame  du  Val  Noble, 
knowing  Esther's  generosity  well,  and  feeling 
sometimes  that  Esther  had  inherited  her  fortune 
from  her,  determined  to  contrive  a  meeting  which 
should  appear  the  result  of  chance,  although  in 
reality  premeditated. 

In  order  to  arrive  at  this  end,  Madame  du  Val 
Noble,  fashionably  dressed,  walked  up  and  down 
the  Champs  Elysees  on  the  arm  of  Theodore 
Gaillard,  who  finally  married  her,  and  who  in 
this  trouble  had  behaved  with  great  kindness 
toward  his  former  mistress,  giving  her  boxes  at  the 
theatre  and  securing  invitations  for  her  to  every 
entertainment.  She  hoped  that  on  some  fine  day 
Esther  might  be  driving  there,  and  that  they 
might  meet  face  to  face.  Esther  had  Paccard  for  a 
coachman,  for  within  five  days  her  household  had 
been  so  organized  by  Asia,  Europe  and  Paccard, 
acting  under  Carlos'  orders,  that  the  house  in 
the  Rue  Saint  Georges  had  become  an  impregnable 
fortress. 

On  his  part,  Peyrade,  moved  by  his  profound 
hatred,  by  his  desire  for  vengeance,  and  above  all, 
by  his  purpose  of  providing  a  dowry  for  his  dear 
Lydie,  had  chosen  the  Champs  Elysees  as  the  end 
of  his  daily  walk  from  the  time  that  Contenson  had 


328  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

told  him  that  M.  de  Nucingen's  mistress  was  to 
be  seen  there.  Peyrade  could  get  himself  up  so 
perfectly  as  an  Englishman,  and  could  speak  French 
so  admirably  with  the  chirping  accent  which  the 
English  introduce  into  our  language;  he  knew  Eng- 
lish so  completely  and  was  so  intimately  versed  in 
the  affairs  of  that  country,  whither  he  had  been 
three  times  sent  by  the  Parisian  police  in  1779  and 
1786,  that  he  played  the  part  of  an  Englishman 
both  at  the  English  embassy  and  in  London  with- 
out awakening  suspicion.  He  had  acquired  much 
of  the  skill  of  Musson,  the  famous  conjurer,  and 
could  disguise  himself  with  so  much  art  that  one 
day  Contenson  failed  to  recognize  him.  Accom- 
panied by  Contenson  disguised  as  a  mulatto,  Pey- 
rade scrutinized  Esther  and  her  servants  with  that 
seemingly  inattentive  glance  that  does  not  lose  the 
least  detail.  So  it  consequently  happened  that  he 
was  in  the  side  alley  in  which  people  walk  in  fine, 
dry  weather  after  leaving  their  carriages,  the  very 
day  that  Esther  met  there  with  Madame  du  Val 
Noble.  Peyrade,  followed  by  his  mulatto  in  livery, 
walked  naturally  along,  like  a  true  nabob,  thinking 
only  of  himself,  behind  the  two  women  at  such  a 
distance  that  he  could  overhear  some  snatches  of 
their  conversation. 

"Do  come  to  see  me,  my  dear  child,"  Esther  was 
saying  to  Madame  du  Val  Noble;  "Nucingen  owes 
it  to  himself  not  to  leave  the  mistress  of  his  broker 
without  a  penny." 

"All  the  more  because  people  say  that  it  was  he 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN         329 

who  ruined  him,"  said  Theodore  Gaillard,  "and 
that  we  can  make  him  squeal  by  threatening  to 
expose  him." 

"He  dines  with  me  to-morrow.  Come,"  said 
Esther. 

Then  she  added  in  a  low  tone : 

"I  make  him  do  everything  that  I  wish,  and  he 
hasn't  had  that  of  me  yet" 

With  this  she  placed  one  of  her  gloved  fingers 
beneath  the  prettiest  of  her  teeth  and  made  that 
familiar  gesture  which  means  emphatically,  "Noth- 
ing at  all." 

-"You  have  him  tight?" 

"My  dear,  as  yet  he  has  only  paid  my  debts." 

"Is  he  close-fisted?"  exclaimed  Suzanne  du  Val 
Noble. 

"Oh!"  replied  Esther,  "my  debts  were  enough 
to  frighten  a  minister  of  finance.  Now  I  wish  to 
get  an  income  of  thirty  thousand  francs  before  the 
clock  strikes  midnight!  Oh,  he's  complaisance 
itself;  I  have  nothing  to  complain  of.  Everything's 
going  well.  We  shall  have  a  house-warming  within 
the  week  and  you  shall  be  of  the  party.  To-morrow 
he  must  offer  me  the  deed  of  the  house  in  the  Rue 
Saint  Georges.  A  woman  can't  live  decently  in  such 
a  house  as  that  without  an  income  of  thirty  thousand 
francs  to  turn  to  in  case  of  mishap.  1  have  known 
poverty,  and  I  want  no  more  of  it.  There  are  cer- 
tain experiences  which  you  can't  see  too  little  of." 

"To  think  of  your  saying:  'fortune  and  I  are 
one !'  How  you  have  changed !' '  exclaimed  Suzanne. 


330  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

"It  is  the  air  of  Switzerland.  One  becomes 
economical  there.  It's  the  place  for  you,  my  dear! 
Get  hold  of  a  Swiss  and  perhaps  he  will  turn  out  a 
husband !  For  they  haven't  yet  learned  to  under- 
stand women  like  you  and  me.  In  any  case  you 
will  return  with  a  desire  for  an  income  on  the  pub- 
lic ledger — a  most  honest  and  refined  desire! 
Adieu." 

Esther  stepped  into  her  handsome  carriage  drawn 
by  the  most  magnificent  pair  of  dapple-gray  mares 
to  be  found  in  Paris. 

"The  woman  getting  into  her  carriage  is  not  to 
be  despised,  but  I  like  the  one  who  walks  still 
better,"  said  Peyrade  to  Contenson,  in  English; 
"follow  her  and  find  out  who  she  is." 

"Hear  what  that  Englishman  has  just  been  say- 
ing in  English,"  said  Theodore  Gaillard,  repeating 
Peyrade's  words  to  Madame  du  Val  Noble. 

Before  venturing  to  speak  in  English,  Peyrade 
had  uttered  a  single  exclamation  in  that  tongue 
which  caused  an  expression  in  Theodore  Gaillard's 
face  that  made  the  journalist's  acquaintance  with 
English  very  evident.  Madame  du  Val  Noble  walked 
leisurely  homeward  to  a  very  respectable  boarding 
house  in  the  Rue  Louis  le  Grand,  looking  to  one  side 
to  see  whether  the  mulatto  were  still  following  her. 
This  establishment  belonged  to  a  Madame  Gerard, 
who  had  received  assistance  from  Madame  du  Val 
Noble  in  the  days  of  her  splendor,  and  was  now 
showing  her  gratitude  by  lodging  the  unlucky  woman 
in  a  suitable  fashion.  This  good  woman,  middle 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN         331 

class,  honest,  virtuous,  even  pious,  received  the 
courtesan  as  a  being  of  a  higher  order;  she  had 
always  seen  her  surrounded  by  luxury;  she  took 
her  for  a  fallen  queen ;  she  confided  her  daughters 
to  her  care ;  and,  what  was  more  natural  perhaps 
than  we  may  think,  the  courtesan  was  as  scrupulous 
when  she  took  them  to  the  theatre  as  a  mother 
would  have  been.  The  two  Mademoiselle  Gerards 
loved  her  in  return.  The  good  and  worthy  hostess 
was  like  those  sublime  priests  who  see  a  creature 
to  save  and  to  love  in  a  woman  without  the  pale 
of  law.  Madame  du  Val  Noble  respected  this 
goodness,  and  often  as  they  talked  together  in  the 
evenings  deploring  her  misfortunes,  she  envied  her. 
"You  are  still  handsome;  you  can  still  come  to  a 
good  end,"  Madame  Gerard  would  say  to  her. 
Moreover  Madame  du  Val  Noble  had  only  fallen 
relatively.  The  wardrobe  of  this  lavish  and  extrava- 
gant woman  was  yet  in  sufficiently  good  repair  to 
allow  her  to  appear  on  occasions  like  the  evening 
of  Richard  Darlington,  at  the  Porte  Saint  Martin,  in 
all  her  glory.  Madame  Gerard  besides  paid  with 
a  good  grace  for  the  carriages  that  were  required  to 
drive  this  woman  who  had  lost  her  means  of  sub- 
sistence to  some  restaurant  for  her  dinner,  or  to 
take  her  to  the  theatre  and  to  bring  her  home. 

"Well,  my  dear  Madame  Gerard,"  said  she  to 
that  excellent  woman,  "my  lot  is  going  to  change, 
I  think—" 

"Then,  madame,  so  much  the  better;  but  don't 
be  led  astray;  think  of  the  future.  Don't  run  into 


332  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

debt  I  have  so  much  trouble  in  getting  rid  of  your 
creditors!" 

"Oh!  don't  waste  a  thought  on  those  dogs:  they 
have  all  stolen  enormous  sums  from  me.  Here  are 
tickets  to  the  Varietes  for  your  daughters — a  good 
box  on  the  balcony.  If  anybody  asks  for  me  before 
I  return  let  him  be  shown  upstairs.  Adele,  my  old 
waiting-maid,  will  be  there ;  I  am  going  to  send  her 
to  you. ' ' 

Madame  du  Val  Noble,  who  had  neither  aunt  nor 
mother,  was  obliged  to  have  recourse  to  her  maid 
(afoot,  too)  in  order  to  make  her  play  the  part  of  a 
Saint  Esteve  with  the  stranger  whose  conquest 
would  permit  her  to  regain  her  rank.  She  was 
going  to  dine  with  Theodore  Gaillard,  who  on  that 
day  had  a  pleasure  party  on  hand ;  that  is  to  say,  a 
dinner  given  by  Nathan  in  payment  of  a  wager ; 
one  of  those  orgies  to  which  the  host  invites  his 
guest  with  the  words,  "There  will  be  women 
there." 


It  was  not  without  weighty  reasons  that  Peyrade 
had  decided  to  enter  the  lists  in  person.  Moreover 
his  curiosity,  as  well  as  that  of  Corentin,  was  so 
violently  aroused  that  even  without  reasons  he 
would  have  willingly  mingled  in  the  drama.  At 
this  moment  the  policy  of  Charles  X.  had  completed 
its  last  evolution.  When  he  had  intrusted  the  helm 
of  state  to  ministers  of  his  own  choice,  the  king 
prepared  to  conquer  Algiers  in  order  to  use  the 
ensuing  glory  as  a  passport  to  what  has  been  called 
his  coup  d'etat.  Within  the  kingdom  conspiracy 
had  died  out;  Charles  X.  thought  himself  without 
an  enemy.  In  politics,  as  on  the  ocean,  there  are 
treacherous  calms.  Thus  Corentin  had  fallen  into 
absolute  inaction.  In  this  situation  a  true  hunter, 
in  order  to  keep  his  hand  in  practice,  kills  crows 
when  partridges  have  flown.  Domitian,  himself, 
killed  flies  when  there  were  no  more  Christians. 
A  witness  of  Esther's  arrest,  Contenson  had,  with 
the  exquisite  perception  of  a  detective,  passed  an 
accurate  judgment  on  that  operation.  As  we  have 
seen,  the  fellow  had  not  even  taken  pains  to  con- 
ceal his  opinion  from  the  Baron  de  Nucingen. 
"For  whose  profit  are  they  levying  contributions  on 
the  baron's  passions?"  was  the  first  question  that 
the  two  friends  asked  of  each  other.  When  he  had 
(333) 


334  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

recognized  Asia  as  an  actress  in  the  comedy,  Con- 
tenson  had  hoped  to  reach  the  author  of  the  con- 
spiracy through  her.  She  had  eluded  him,  however, 
hiding  for  some  time  like  an  eel  in  the  mud  of  Paris, 
and  when  he  discovered  her  in  the  capacity  of 
Esther's  cook,  the  co-operation  of  the  mulatto 
woman  seemed  inexplicable.  For  the  first  time 
these  two  artists  in  espionage  had  met  with  an 
indecipherable  text,  although  they  suspected  that  it 
concealed  a  dark  story.  After  three  successive  and 
bold  attacks  upon  the  house  in  the  Rue  Taitbout, 
Contenson  had  encountered  nothing  but  the  most 
obstinate  silence.  As  long  as  Esther  lived  in 
the  house  the  porter  seemed  under  the  influence  of 
the  most  profound  terror.  Perhaps  Asia  had 
promised  the  entire  household  that  poisonous 
dishes  should  revenge  the  slightest  indiscretion. 
The  day  following  that  on  which  Esther  had  left  her 
apartment,  Contenson  had  found  the  porter  some- 
what more  reasonable:  he  regretted  the  departure 
of  the  lady  who,  he  said,  had  fed  him  with  frag- 
ments from  her  table.  Contenson,  disguised  as  a 
broker,  bargained  for  the  apartment  and  lent  his 
ear  to  the  porter's  sorrows,  made  fun  of  him,  and 
cast  a  slur  of  suspicion  over  everything  he  said  by 
continually  repeating  "Is  it  possible?"  "Yes,  sir, 
the  little  lady  lived  here  for  five  years  without 
leaving  the  house,  while  her  lover,  who  was  jealous, 
although  she  was  without  reproach,  used  the  greatest 
precaution  in  coming  and  going.  He  was  a  very 
handsome  young  man,  too." 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN         335 

Lucien  was  still  at  Marsac,  staying  with  his 
sister,  Madame  Sechard ;  but  after  his  return  Con- 
tenson  despatched  the  porter  to  the  Quai  Malaquais 
to  ask  M.  de  Rubempre  whether  he  would  consent 
to  sell  the  furniture  of  the  apartment  lately  left 
vacant  by  Madame  Van  Bogseck.  The  porter  then 
recognized  in  Lucien  the  mysterious  lover  of  the 
young  widow,  and  Contenson  cared  not  to  know 
more.  It  is  easy  to  imagine  the  profound  though 
concealed  amazement  with  which  Lucien  and  Carlos 
were  seized.  They  seemed  to  think  the  porter  mad 
and  tried  to  persuade  him  of  his  insanity. 

Within  twenty-four  hours  a  counter-police  was 
organized  by  Carlos,  which  surprised  the  detective 
in  the  very  act  of  spying.  Contenson,  disguised 
as  a  butcher's  boy,  had  twice  already  delivered  the 
provisions  purchased  by  Asia  in  the  morning,  and 
twice  he  had  succeeded  in  entering  the  little  house 
in  the  Rue  Saint  Georges.  Corentin,  on  his  part, 
was  not  idle ;  but  the  appearance  of  Carlos  Herrera 
on  the  scene  stopped  him  short,  for  he  knew  at  once 
that  this  priest,  the  secret  envoy  of  Ferdinand  VII., 
had  come  to  Paris  toward  the  end  of  the  year  1823. 
Nevertheless,  Corentin  felt  it  necessary  to  study 
the  reasons  which  had  led  the  Spaniard  to  protect 
Lucien  de  Rubempre,  and  it  was  soon  clear  to  him 
that  Esther  had  been  Lucien's  mistress  for  full  five 
years.  Thus  the  substitution  of  the  Englishwoman 
for  Esther  had  taken  place  in  the  dandy's  interests. 
Lucien  had  no  means  of  subsistence.  The  hand  of 
Mademoiselle  de  Grandlieu  had  been  refused  him, 


336  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

and  yet  he  had  lately  paid  a  million  of  francs  for 
the  Rubempre  estate.  Corentin  adroitly  excited 
the  interest  of  the  Director-General  of  the  police 
of  the  kingdom,  who  was  informed  by  the  Prefect 
of  police  that  the  complainants  in  the  case  of  Pey- 
rade  had  been  none  other  than  the  Count  de  Serizy 
and  Lucien  de  Rubempre. 

"Now  we  have  it!"  exclaimed  Corentin  and  Pey- 
rade. 

The  plan  of  the  two  friends  was  drawn  in  an 
instant 

"This  girl  has  had  intrigues,"  said  Corentin; 
"she  has  friends  among  the  women  of  her  class, 
and  among  these  friends  one  at  least  must  have 
been  unlucky.  One  of  us  shall  play  the  part  of  a 
rich  foreigner  and  make  her  his  mistress;  we  will 
keep  her  on  the  best  of  terms  with  Madame  Van 
Bogseck.  They  always  need  one  another's  help  in 
the  game  of  love,  and  so  we  shall  be  within  their 
inmost  walls." 

It  was  quite  natural  for  Peyrade  to  think  of  as- 
suming the  disguise  of  an  Englishman.  The  life 
of  debauchery  which  must  precede  the  discovery  of 
the  plot  of  which  he  had  been  the  victim,  pleased 
his  fancy,  while  Corentin,  who  had  grown  old  in 
the  harness  and  whose  health  was  none  too  vigor- 
ous, cared  little  for  such  excesses.  By  his  disguise 
as  a  mulatto  Contenson  escaped  at  once  from  all 
danger  of  Carlos'  counter-police.  Three  days  be- 
fore Peyrade's  encounter  with  Madame  du  Val 
Noble  in  the  Champs  Elysees,  the  last  of  the 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN         337 

agents  of  MM.  de  Sartine  and  Lenoir,  furnished  with 
a  formally  correct  passport,  registered  at  the  Hotel 
Mirabeau  in  the  Rue  de  la  Paix.  He  had  arrived 
from  the  colonies  by  way  of  Havre,  in  a  small  car- 
riage quite  muddy  enough  to  have  come  all  the  way 
from  Havre,  although  it  had  only  made  the  journey 
from  Saint  Denis  to  Paris. 

On  his  side  Carlos  Herrera  had  his  passport 
signed  at  the  Spanish  Embassy,  and  made  all  his 
arrangements  in  the  Quai  Malaquais  preparatory  to 
his  journey  to  Madrid.  This  was  his  reason: 
within  a  few  days  Esther  was  to  become  the 
owner  of  the  small  house  in  the  Rue  Saint  Georges, 
she  was  to  obtain  in  advance  a  bond  of  thirty 
thousand  francs ;  Europe  and  Asia  were  sufficiently 
shrewd  to  sell  it  in  her  name  and  bring  the  money 
secretly  to  Lucien.  Lucien,  reputed  to  be  rich 
through  the  generosity  of  his  sister,  would  thus  be 
enabled  to  pay  the  balance  of  the  debt  on  the 
Rubempre  estate.  Nobody  could  find  fault  with  his 
conduct  in  this  respect  Esther  alone  had  the 
power  to  be  indiscreet,  but  she  would  rather  die 
than  betray  the  least  sign  of  complicity.  Clotilde 
had  lately  displayed  a  rose-colored  scarf  about  her 
stork-like  neck,  and  therefore  the  day  was  won  in 
the  Grandlieu  mansion.  The  stock  of  the  omnibus 
system  already  paid  three  hundred  per  cent  By 
disappearing  for  a  few  days,  Carlos  would  disarm 
all  suspicion.  Human  prudence  had  foreseen  every- 
thing; a  mistake  was  impossible.  The  pseudo- 
Spaniard  was  to  depart  the  day  after  that  on  which 


338  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

Peyrade  had  met  Madame  du  Val  Noble  on  the 
Champs  filysees.  But  on  that  very  night  at  two 
o'clock  in  the  morning  Asia  came  to  the  Quai 
Malaquais  in  a  cab,  and  found  the  engineer  of  the 
machine  smoking  in  his  room,  absorbed  in  a  review 
of  the  scheme  we  have  described,  like  an  author 
scanning  a  proof  sheet  of  his  book,  seeking  for  some 
error.  A  man  such  as  he  could  not  repeat  an 
omission  like  that  of  the  porter  in  the  Rue  Taitbout. 

"Paccard,"  whispered  Asia  in  her  master's  ear, 
"recognized  Contenson  yesterday  at  half-past  two 
in  the  Champs  Elysees,  disguised  as  a  mulatto  ser- 
vant to  an  Englishman,  who  for  the  past  three  days 
has  been  walking  up  and  down  the  Champs  Ely- 
sees,  in  order  to  watch  Esther.  Paccard  recognized 
him  this  morning  by  his  eyes,  as  I  did  when  he 
was  disguised  as  a  butcher's  boy.  Paccard  drove 
our  little  lady  in  such  a  manner  as  to  keep  the  ras- 
cal in  sight  He  is  at  the  Hotel  Mirabeau,  and  he 
has  interchanged  so  many  signals  of  intelligence 
with  the  Englishman  that  Paccard  says  that  the 
Englishman  can't  be  an  Englishman." 

"We  have  a  gad-fly  after  us,"  said  Carlos.  "I 
shall  not  go  until  the  day  after  to-morrow.  Con- 
tenson is  evidently  the  man  who  has  spurred  on 
the  porter  of  the  Rue  Taitbout  to  follow  us  to  our 
very  door.  We  must  make  certain  whether  the 
sham  Englishman  is  our  enemy." 

At  twelve  o'clock  M.  Samuel  Johnson's  mulatto 
was  waiting  gravely  upon  his  master,  who,  faithful 
to  his  custom,  always  ate  a  sumptuous  breakfast 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN         339 

Peyrade  wished  to  pass  for  an  Englishman  of  the 
drinking  species :  he  never  rose  from  table  till  his 
second  bottle  was  empty.  He  wore  black  cloth 
gaiters,  extending  as  far  as  his  knees  and  padded  so 
as  to  increase  the  dimensions  of  his  legs;  his  pan- 
taloons were  lined  with  thick  cloth,  his  waistcoat  was 
buttoned  up  to  his  chin ;  his  blue  cravat  muffled  his 
neck  up  to  the  cheeks;  his  head  was  covered  by  a 
small  red  peruke ;  he  had  increased  his  height  by 
three  inches :  the  oldest  habitue  of  the  Cafe  David 
would  have  failed  to  recognize  him.  By  his  square- 
cut  coat,  black,  ample  and  well  brushed  as  an  English 
coat  always  is,  a  stranger  would  have  taken  him 
for  a  British  millionaire.  Contenson  had  displayed 
the  cool  insolence  of  the  confidential  valet  of  a  nabob : 
he  was  silent,  surly,  distant,  uncommunicative,  made 
foreign  gestures  and  uttered  ferocious  exclamations. 
Peyrade  was  finishing  his  second  bottle  when  a 
waiter  introduced,  without  ceremony,  into  the  apart- 
ment a  man  whom  Peyrade,  as  well  as  Contenson, 
recognized  as  a  gendarme  in  civilian's  dress. 

"Monsieur  Peyrade,"  said  the  gendarme  in  a 
whisper  to  the  nabob,  "I  have  orders  to  take  you 
to  the  Prefecture." 

Peyrade  rose  without  a  word  and  went  to  get  his 
hat. 

"You  will  find  a  cab  at  the  door,"  said  the  gen- 
darme, on  the  stairway.  "The  Prefect  wished  to 
arrest  you,  but  he  has  contented  himself  with 
requiring  an  explanation  of  your  conduct  through  a 
constable  whom  you  will  find  in  the  carriage." 


340  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

"Shall  I  get  in  with  you?"  asked  the  gendarme 
of  the  constable,  when  Peyrade  had  taken  his  seat 
in  the  carriage. 

"No,"  replied  the  officer.  "Tell  the  coachman 
quietly  to  go  to  the  Prefecture. " 

Peyrade  and  Carlos  sat  together  in  the  same  car- 
riage. Carlos  had  a  poignard  within  reach.  The 
cab  was  driven  by  a  confidential  coachman,  quite 
capable  of  allowing  Carlos  to  slip  out  unnoticed, 
and  of  being  amazed  to  find  a  corpse  in  the  carriage 
when  he  came  to  his  journey's  end.  A  detective's 
body  is  never  reclaimed.  Justice  permits  this  class 
of  murderers  to  go  unpunished ;  they  are  too  difficult 
to  trace.  Peyrade  cast  his  searching  glance  over  the 
magistrate  whom  the  Prefect  of  Police  had  com- 
missioned to  examine  him.  Carlos'  appearance  was 
satisfactory:  a  bald  head,  furrowed  with  wrinkles 
in  the  back ;  powdered  hair ;  then,  over  sore  eyes, 
bordered  with  red,  and  evidently  in  constant  need 
of  care,  a  pair  of  gold  spectacles,  very  light  and 
very  bureaucratic,  with  two  thicknesses  of  green 
glass.  These  eyes  were  certificates  of  some  foul 
disease.  A  linen  shirt,  with  smoothly  ironed 
ruffles,  a  waistcoat  of  worn  black  satin,  constable's 
trousers,  black  grogram  stockings,  and  shoes  tied 
with  ribbons,  a  long  black  surtout,  two-franc 
gloves,  black  and  worn  for  ten  days,  a  gold 
watch-chain.  He  was  neither  more  nor  less 
than  the  inferior  magistrate  whom  men  misterm 
constable. 

"My  dear  Monsieur  Peyrade,  I  regret  that  a  man 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN         341 

like  you  should  be  the  object  of  surveillance  which 
you  are  careful  to  justify  by  your  behavior.  Your 
disguise  is  not  to  the  Prefect's  taste.  If  you  think 
that  you  can  escape  our  vigilance  by  this  means 
you  are  mistaken.  Doubtless  you  joined  the  route 
from  England  at  Beaumont-sur-Oise  ?" 

"At  Beaumont-sur-Oise?"  replied  Peyrade. 

"Or  at  Saint  Denis?"  suggested  the  pseudo  mag- 
istrate. 

Peyrade  felt  troubled.  This  new  question  re- 
quired an  answer,  but  every  answer  was  dangerous. 
An  affirmation  would  be  mockery,  a  denial,  if  the 
man  knew  the  truth,  meant  ruin. 

"He's  clever,"  thought  Peyrade. 

He  tried  to  smile  at  the  officer,  and  gave  him  this 
smile  for  an  answer.  The  smile  was  accepted 
without  protest. 

"What  was  your  purpose  in  assuming  your  dis- 
guise, in  taking  an  apartment  in  the  Hotel  Mira- 
beau,  and  in  dressing  Contenson  as  a  mulatto?" 
demanded  the  constable. 

"The  Prefect  may  do  with  me  as  he  wishes,  but 
I  owe  account  of  my  actions  to  no  man  but  my 
superiors,"  said  Peyrade  with  dignity. 

"If  you  wish  me  to  understand  that  you  are  act- 
ing on  behalf  of  the  general  police  of  the  kingdom," 
replied  the  sham  constable  dryly,  "we  will  change 
our  direction  and  go  to  the  Rue  de  Crenelle  instead 
of  the  Rue  de  Jerusalem.  My  orders  in  respect  to 
you  are  most  specific.  But  take  care;  they  are 
not  nursing  any  deep  grudge  against  you,  and  yet 


342  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

in  a  moment  you  would  ruin  yourself.  For  my 
part,  I  wish  you  no  harm.  But,  out  with  it !  Tell 
me  the  truth." 

"The  truth  is  this,"  said  Peyrade,  casting  a 
scrutinizing  glance  at  the  eyes  of  his  Cerberus. 

The  face  of  the  pretended  magistrate  remained 
motionless  and  impassive;  he  did  justice  to  his  art; 
all  truth  appeared  indifferent  to  him ;  he  seemed  to 
be  annoyed  with  the  Prefect  for  some  whim.  Pre- 
fects have  their  crotchets. 

"I  am  madly  in  love  with  a  woman,  the  mistress 
of  that  broker  who  is  traveling  for  his  own  pleasure 
and  for  the  displeasure  of  his  creditors,  Falleix." 

"Madame  du  Val  Noble,"  said  the  officer. 

"Yes,"  continued  Peyrade.  "To  be  able  to  sup- 
port her  for  a  month,  which  will  not  cost  me  more 
than  three  thousand  francs,  I  dressed  myself  as  a 
nabob,  and  took  Contenson  for  my  domestic.  This, 
monsieur,  is  so  true  that  if  you  will  leave  me  in 
the  cab,  where  I  will  wait  for  you,  on  the  word  of 
an  old  Commissary-General  of  police,  and  go  into 
the  hotel,  you  can  question  Contenson.  Not  only 
will  Contenson  confirm  what  I  have  had  the  honor 
of  telling  you,  but  you  will  meet  Madame  du  Val 
Noble's  maid  who  is  this  morning  to  bring  us  a 
consent  to  my  proposal,  or  the  conditions  of  her 
mistress.  You  can  tell  an  old  monkey  by  his  grim- 
aces. I  have  offered  a  thousand  francs  a  month,  a 
carriage — that  makes  fifteen  hundred;  five  hun- 
dred francs  in  presents,  as  much  in  entertainments, 
dinners,  plays;  you  see  that  I  am  not  a  penny  out 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN         343 

of  the  way  in  telling  you  three  thousand  francs. 
A  man  of  my  age  can  easily  spend  three  thousand 
francs  on  her  latest  whim." 

"Ah!  Papa  Peyrade,  do  you  still  love  women 
enough  to —  ?  But  you  surpass  me  there ;  1  am  sixty 
years  old  and  I  get  on  very  well  without  them. 
Nevertheless,  if  everything  is  as  you  say,  I  sup- 
pose that  your  foreign  dress  was  necessary  for  the 
gratification  of  your  fancy. ' ' 

"You  see  that  Peyrade  or  Pere  Canquoelle  of 
the  Rue  des  Moineaux — " 

"Yes,  neither  of  them  would  have  suited  Madame 
du  Val  Noble,"  interrupted  Carlos,  delighted  to 
learn  Pere  Canquoelle's  address.  "Before  the 
revolution  1  had  for  my  mistress  a  woman  who  had 
belonged  to  the  Jack  Ketch  of  that  time.  One  day, 
at  the  theatre,  she  pricks  herself  with  a  pin,  and 
exclaims,  as  people  did  in  those  days,  'Ah!  bloody!' 
'Is  it  a  reminiscence?'  asked  her  neighbor.  Well, 
my  dear  Peyrade,  she  left  her  husband  on  account 
of  the  joke.  I  imagine  that  you  don't  care  to 
expose  yourself  to  a  similar  insult.  Madame  du 
Val  Noble  moves  in  a  fashionable  sphere.  I  saw 
her  at  the  Opera  once  and  thought  her  very 
handsome.  My  dear  sir,  ask  the  coachman  to 
drive  back  to  the  Rue  de  la  Paix;  I  will  go  up 
to  your  room  with  you  and  see  everything  for 
myself.  A  verbal  report  will  doubtless  satisfy  the 
Prefect." 

Carlos  drew  from  his  side  pocket  a  snuff  box  of 
black  card-board,  lined  with  vermilion,  and  offered 


344  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

it  to  Peyrade  with  a  gesture  of  charming  cordiality. 
Peyrade  said  to  himself: 

"These  are  their  agents!  Lord!  if  M.  Lenoir 
or  M.  de  Sartine  should  come  to  earth  again,  what 
would  they  say?" 

"That's  no  doubt  a  portion  of  the  truth,  but  it's 
not  all,  my  dear  friend,"  said  the  counterfeit  offi- 
cer, as  he  sniffed  the  last  grains  of  his  pinch  of 
snuff.  "You  have  been  meddling  in  the  love  affairs 
of  the  Baron  de  Nucingen,  and  doubtless  you  pur- 
pose to  catch  him  in  some  slip-noose;  you  have 
missed  him  with  your  pistol  and  now  you  wish  to 
bring  your  heavy  artillery  to  bear.  Madame  du 
Val  Noble  is  a  friend  of  Madame  de  Champy — " 

"Ah,  the  devil!  the  game's  up!"  thought  Pey- 
rade. "He's  more  wily  than  I  supposed.  He's 
tricking  me;  he  talks  about  letting  me  go,  and  yet 
he  continues  to  pump  me." 

"Well?"  demanded  Carlos,  with  a  magisterial 
air. 

"Monsieur,  it  is  true  that  I  made  the  mistake 
of  searching,  on  M.  de  Nucingen's  behalf,  for  a 
woman  with  whom  he  was  wildly  in  love.  It  is 
the  reason  of  my  present  disgrace,  for  it  seems  that 
I  have  unintentionally  touched  upon  very  grave 
interests." 

The  petty  magistrate  was  impassible. 

"But  after  fifty-two  years'  experience  I  know  the 
police  well  enough,"  continued  Peyrade,  "to  keep 
myself  well  away  from  them  since  the  scolding  I 
received  from  the  Prefect,  who  certainly  was  right. " 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN         345 

"Then  you  would  give  up  your  caprice  if  the 
Prefect  should  require  it?  That,  I  think,  would  be 
the  best  proof  of  the  sincerity  of  what  you  have 
told  me." 

"How  he  runs  on!  how  he  runs  on!"  said  Pey- 
rade  to  himself.  "Who  would  have  believed  it? 
The  agents  of  to-day  are  as  good  as  those  of  M. 
Lenoir!" 

"Give  it  up!"  replied  Peyrade  aloud.  "I  shall 
wait  the  Prefect's  orders.  But  if  you  care  to  come 
in,  here  we  are  at  the  hotel." 

"Where  does  your  money  come  from?"  demanded 
Carlos  point-blank,  with  an  air  of  extreme  sagacity. 

"Monsieur,  I  have  a  friend — "  said  Peyrade. 

"Tell  that,"  answered  Carlos,  "to  a  judge  in 
court." 

This  bold  scene  was,  on  Carlos'  part,  the  result 
of  one  of  those  combinations  whose  simplicity  could 
proceed  from  no  brain  except  that  of  a  man  of  his 
stamp.  Very  early  in  the  morning  he  had  sent 
Lucien  to  call  upon  the  Countess  de  Serizy.  Lu- 
cien  requested  the  count's  private  secretary  to  go 
to  the  Prefect  on  behalf  of  the  count,  and  ask  for 
information  concerning  the  agents  employed  by 
the  Baron  de  Nucingen.  The  secretary  had  re- 
turned, provided  with  a  memorandum  concerning 
Peyrade,  a  copy  of  the  summary  in  the  form  of 
an  indorsement: 

"In  the  police  since  1778,  and  come  to  Paris  from 
Avignon  two  years  before. 


346  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

' '  Without  money  and  without  morality.  A  depositary 
of  state  secrets. 

"Lives  in  the  Rue  des  Moineaux,  under  the  name  of 
Canquoelle,  the  name  of  a  small  estate  in  the  depart- 
ment of  Vaucluse,  where  his  family  lives.  The  family 
was,  moreover,  honorable.  Has  been  recently  inquired 
after  by  one  of  his  grand-nephews,  named  Theodore  de  la 
Peyrade.  (See  the  report  of  an  agent.  Docket  No. 
370" 

"He  must  be  the  Englishman  whose  mulatto  ser- 
vant is  Contenson,"  Carlos  had  exclaimed  when 
Lucien  added  some  extra  information  given  him  by 
word  of  mouth. 

In  three  hours'  time  this  man,  active  as  a  Com- 
mander-in-Chief,  had  discovered,  through  the  ser- 
vices of  Paccard,  an  innocent  accomplice  well  fitted 
to  play  the  part  of  the  gendarme,  and  had  disguised 
himself  as  a  constable.  Three  times  in  the  cab  he 
had  been  on  the  point  of  assassinating  Peyrade; 
but  he  had  made  a  firm  resolution  never  again  to 
commit  murder  with  his  own  hands,  and  adhering 
to  his  principle  he  determined  to  rid  himself  of 
Peyrade  by  pointing  him  out  as  a  millionaire  to  a 
few  liberated  galley-slaves. 

Peyrade  and  his  mentor  could  hear  the  voice  of 
Contenson  as  he  talked  with  Madame  du  Val 
Noble's  waiting-maid.  Peyrade  made  a  sign  to 
Carlos  to  remain  in  the  ante-room,  with  an  air  that 
seemed  to  mean,  "You  are  going  to  judge  of  my 
sincerity." 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN         347 

"Madame  consents  to  all,"  Adele  was  saying. 
"At  this  moment  madame  is  visiting  one  of  her 
friends,  Madame  de  Champy,  who  has  secured  for 
another  year  a  furnished  apartment  in  the  Rue 
Taitbout,  which  no  doubt  she  will  be  glad  to  let 
my  mistress  have.  It  will  be  more  convenient 
for  madame  to  meet  M.  Johnson  there,  for  the 
furniture  is  still  in  good  condition,  and  monsieur 
can  buy  it  for  madame  by  making  a  bargain  with 
Madame  de  Champy." 

"All  right,  the  leaves  are  there  if  the  carrot's 
wanting,"  said  the  mulatto  to  the  surprised  maid; 
"but  we'll  share—" 

"There's  a  negro  for  you!"  exclaimed  Mademoi- 
selle Adele.  "If  your  nabob  is  a  nabob,  he'll  not 
find  it  hard  to  present  madame  with  the  furniture. 
The  lease  expires  in  April,  1830;  your  nabob  may 
renew  it  if  he  thinks  fit" 

"I  am  well  satisfied,"  answered  Peyrade  in  bad 
French,  as  he  entered  the  room  and  tapped  the 
maid  on  the  shoulder.  Then  he  made  signal  of 
inquiry  to  Carlos,  who  implied  by  a  gesture  of 
assent  that  the  nabob  should  not  depart  from 
his  role.  At  this  juncture  the  scene  was  sud- 
denly changed  by  the  entrance  of  a  person 
against  whom  both  Carlos  and  the  Prefect  of 
police  were  powerless.  Corentin  suddenly  ap- 
peared. He,  finding  the  door  open,  had  stepped  in 
casually  to  see  how  Peyrade  was  acting  his  part  as 
nabob. 

"The  Prefect  invariably  sniffs  me  out!"  whispered 


348  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

Peyrade  in  Corentin's  ear.  "He  has  discovered 
that  I  am  playing  nabob." 

"We  shall  checkmate  the  Prefect,"  whispered 
Corentin  in  return. 

Then,  after  a  cold  bow,  he  began  to  examine  the 
magistrate  surreptitiously. 

"Stay  here  until  my  return;  I  am  going  to 
the  Prefecture,"  said  Carlos.  "If  you  don't 
see  me  again,  you  are  at  liberty  to  carry  out  your 
whim." 

After  having  whispered  these  words  in  Peyrade's 
ear  so  as  not  to  disgrace  the  nabob  in  the  eyes  of 
the  waiting-maid,  Carlos  made  his  exit,  not  caring 
to  remain  longer  beneath  the  scrutiny  of  the  new- 
comer, in  whom  he  recognized  one  of  those  fair- 
complexioned  persons  whose  blue  eyes  are  at  once 
terrible  and  cold. 

"He  is  the  constable  that  the  Prefect  sent  after 
me,"  explained  Peyrade  to  Corentin. 

"He?"  replied  Corentin.  "You  have  put  your 
foot  in  it.  That  man  has  three  thicknesses  of  card- 
board in  his  soles,  as  you  can  tell  by  the  position  of 
his  foot  in  the  shoe ;  and  then  a  constable  has  no 
reason  to  disguise  himself." 

Corentin  hurried  downstairs  in  order  to  verify 
his  suspicions;  Carlos  was  stepping  into  the  cab. 

"Hi!    Monsieur  1'Abbe,"  cried  Corentin. 

Carlos  turned  his  head,  perceived  Corentin  and 
sprang  into  his  cab.  Nevertheless  Corentin  had 
time  to  say,  as  the  door  was  closing : 

"That's  all  I  cared  to  know." 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN         349 

"Quai  Malaquais!"  cried  Corentin  to  the  driver 
with  a  voice  and  look  of  devilish  irony. 

"Well,"  thought  Jacques  Collin;  "it's  all  up 
with  me.  They  are  aroused.  I  must  get  the  start 
of  them,  and  above  all  find  out  what  they  want  of 
me." 

Corentin  had  seen  the  Abbe  Carlos  Herrera  five  or 
six  times,  and  the  aspect  of  this  man  could  not  be 
forgotten.  Corentin  had  recognized  first  the 
squareness  of  his  shoulders,  then  certain  swellings 
on  his  face,  and  the  three  false  inches  obtained  by 
an  interior  heel. 

"Ah,  ha!  old  man,  they  have  been  making  game 
of  you,"  said  Corentin,  perceiving  that  Peyrade 
and  Contenson  were  alone  in  the  bed-chamber. 

"Who?"  exclaimed  Peyrade  in  a  voice  of  metal- 
lic vibration ;  "I  shall  spend  my  last  days  in  fasten- 
ing him  to  a  gridiron  and  broiling  him  alive." 

"It's  the  Abbe  Carlos  Herrera,  probably  the  Co- 
rentin of  Spain.  Everything's  explained.  He's  an 
accomplished  villain,  who  wished  to  make  the  for- 
tune of  a  young  man  by  coining  money  in  a  pretty 
woman's  mint  It's  for  you  to  decide  whether  you 
care  to  tilt  with  a  diplomat  who  seems  to  me  most 
devilishly  crafty." 

"Oh!"  cried  Contenson,  "he  received  the  three 
hundred  thousand  francs  the  day  that  Esther  was 
arrested ;  he  was  in  the  cab.  I  remember  his  eyes, 
his  forehead  and  certain  traces  of  small-pox." 

"Ah,  what  a  dowry  my  poor  Lydie  might  have 
had!"  exclaimed  Peyrade. 


350  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

"You  can  be  a  nabob  still,"  said  Corentin.  "In 
order  to  keep  an  eye  on  Esther  we  must  bind  her 
fast  to  Madame  du  Val  Noble ;  she  was  the  real  mis- 
tress of  Lucien  de  Rubempre." 

"They  have  bled  Nucingen  of  more  than  five 
hundred  thousand  francs  already,"  remarked  Con- 
tenson. 

"They  need  as  much  more,"  continued  Coren- 
tin. "The  Rubempre  estate  costs  a  million.  Papa," 
he  added,  slapping  Peyrade's  shoulder;  "you  can 
have  more  than  a  hundred  thousand  francs  to  marry 
Lydie  with." 

"Don't  tell  me  that,  Corentin.  If  your  plan 
fails,  I  don't  know  what  I  may  be  capable  of — " 

"You  shall  have  them  to-morrow,  perhaps!  The 
priest  is  very  cunning;  we  must  tame  him.  He's 
an  arch-devil,  but  I  have  him  fast;  he's  no  fool  and 
he'll  surrender.  Try  to  be  as  stupid  as  a  nabob 
and  fear  nothing." 


The  evening  of  the  day  on  which  the  real  adver- 
saries met  face  to  face  on  a  fair  field,  Lucien  went 
to  pass  the  evening  at  the  Grandlieu  house.  The 
assembled  company  was  numerous.  In  the  sight  of 
all  her  guests,  the  duchess  detained  Lucien  long  by 
her  side  and  treated  him  with  marked  attention. 

"You  have  been  on  a  little  journey?"  said  she. 

"Yes,  madame.  In  her  desire  to  compass  my 
marriage,  my  sister  has  made  very  great  sacrifices, 
and  I  have  been  enabled  to  purchase  the  Rubempre 
estate  and  to  remodel  it  entirely.  I  have  found,  in 
my  Paris  lawyer,  a  man  shrewd  enough  to  avoid 
the  claims  which  the  late  rascally  owners  would 
have  raised  had  they  known  the  name  of  the  pur- 
chaser." 

"Is  there  a  chateau?"  asked  Clotilde  smiling. 

"There  is  something  which  resembles  a  chateau, 
but  the  wisest  plan  will  be  to  use  its  materials  to 
build  a  modern  house." 

Clotilde's  eyes  shot  flames  of  happiness  across 
her  smiles  of  content. 

"To-night  you  will  play  a  rubber  with  my 
father,"  said  she  to  Lucien  in  a  low  voice;  "in  a 
fortnight  I  trust  you  will  be  invited  to  dinner." 

"Ah,  my  dear  sir,"  said  the  Duke  de  Grandlieu, 
"they  tell  me  that  you  have  bought  the  Ruhempre 
estate ;  allow  me  to  offer  you  my  congratulations. 
(35i) 


352  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

It  is  a  fitting  answer  to  those  who  accused  you  of 
being  in  debt.  People  such  as  we  can  have  a  pub- 
lic debt,  like  England  and  France;  but,  you  see, 
people  without  money — beginners — can't  indulge  in 
that  sort  of  thing." 

"But,  your  lordship,  I  still  owe  five  hundred 
thousand  francs  on  my  land." 

"Then  you  must  marry  a  girl  who  will  bring 
them  to  you.  But  you  will  find  it  a  difficult  task  to 
discover  a  bride  with  a  fortune  like  that  in  our 
Faubourg,  where  men  give  small  dowries  to  their 
daughters." 

"Their  name  alone  is  enough,"  replied  Lucien. 

"We  are  but  three  for  a  game  of  whist — Manfri- 
gneuse,  d'Espard  and  I ;  will  you  make  the  fourth  ?" 
said  the  duke  to  Lucien,  pointing  toward  the  card- 
table. 

Clotilde  came  to  the  table  to  watch  her  father 
play. 

"Does  she  mean  me  to  take  this  compliment  to 
myself?"  said  the  duke,  patting  his  daughter's 
hands  and  casting  a  side-glance  at  Lucien,  who  re- 
mained quite  serious. 

Lucien,  the  partner  of  M.  d'Espard,  lost  twenty 
louis. 

"Dear  mother,"  said  Clotilde  to  the  duchess,  "he 
was  clever  enough  to  lose." 

At  eleven  o'clock,  after  exchanging  a  few  words 
of  love  with  Mademoiselle  de  Grandlieu,  Lucien 
drove  back  to  his  lodgings,  and  went  to  bed  think- 
ing of  the  complete  triumph  in  store  for  him  within 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN         353 

a  month,  for  he  no  longer  doubted  that  he  would  be 
accepted  as  Clotilde's  betrothed,  and  married  be- 
fore the  Lent  of  1830. 

The  next  day, after  breakfast,  while  Lucien  was 
smoking  his  cigarette  in  company  with  Carlos,  who 
had  become  very  anxious,  the  servant  announced 
that  M.  de  Saint  Esteve — what  an  epigram! — would 
like  to  speak  either  with  the  Abbe  Carlos  Herrera 
or  with  M.  Lucien  de  Rubempre. 

"Was  he  told  that  I  had  gone?"  asked  the  priest 

"Yes,  monsieur,"  answered  the  groom. 

"Receive  him,"  said  Carlos  to  Lucien;  "but 
don't  utter  a  single  compromising  word;  don't  let  a 
gesture  of  surprise  escape  you — it's  the  enemy." 

"You  shall  listen  to  me,"  replied  Lucien. 

Carlos  concealed  himself  in  a  neighboring  apart- 
ment, and  looking  through  a  crack  in  the  door,  he 
saw  Corentin  enter.  Such  was  that  great  man's 
genius  for  transformation,  that  the  priest  could 
recognize  his  voice  alone.  On  this  occasion  Co- 
rentin represented  an  old  chief  of  division  in  the 
department  of  finance. 

"I  have  not  the  honor  of  being  known  to  you," 
said  Corentin ;  "but — " 

"Excuse  me  for  interrupting  you,  sir,"  said  Lu- 
cien; "but—" 

"But,  I  wish  to  speak  to  you  concerning  your 
marriage  with  Mademoiselle  Clotilde  de  Grandlieu, 
which  will  not  come  to  pass,"  replied  Corentin 
quickly. 

Lucien  sat  down  and  did  not  answer. 
23 


354  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

"You  are  in  the  hands  of  a  man  who  has  the 
power,  the  will  and  the  readiness  to  prove  to  the 
Duke  de  Grandlieu  that  the  Rubempre  estate  will 
be  bought  with  the  price  that  a  blockhead  has  paid 
for  your  mistress,  Mademoiselle  Esther,"  continued 
Corentin.  "It  will  be  easy  to  discover  the  minutes 
of  the  judgments  in  virtue  of  which  Mademoiselle 
Esther  has  been  prosecuted,  and  1  have  the  means 
of  loosening  d'Estourny's  tongue.  The  exceedingly 
adroit  manoeuvres  employed  against  the  baron  will 
be  brought  to  light. — Now,  everything  can  be  ar- 
ranged. Give  me  a  hundred  thousand  francs  and 
you  will  be  left  in  peace.  This  has  nothing  to  do 
with  me.  I  am  merely  the  agent  of  those  who  are 
playing  this  game,  nothing  more." 

Corentin  might  have  talked  for  an  hour;  Lucien 
smoked  his  cigarette  with  an  air  of  perfect  indif- 
ference. 

"Monsieur,"  he  answered,  "I  do  not  wish  to 
know  who  you  are,  for  people  who  undertake  such 
commissions  as  this  are  nameless  so  far  as  I  am 
concerned.  I  have  heard  you  quietly  to  the  end; 
I  am  at  home.  You  do  not  appear  to  be  destitute 
of  sense.  Listen  to  my  dilemma." 

There  was  a  pause,  during  which  Lucien,  with 
an  icy  stare,  met  the  cat's  eyes  that  Corentin 
directed  toward  him. 

"Whether  you  found  your  assertions  on  facts  en- 
tirely false,  and  I  shall  take  no  note  of  this,"  con- 
tinued Lucien,  "or  whether  your  statements  are 
correct,  by  giving  you  one  hundred  thousand  francs, 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN         355 

I  should  give  you  the  right  of  demanding  of  me  as 
many  hundred  thousands  of  francs  as  your  employer 
can  discover  Saint  Esteves  to  send  me. — But  to 
cut  short  your  estimable  negotiation,  learn  that  I, 
Lucien  de  Rubempre,  fear  nobody.  I  have  no  part 
in  the  practices  about  which  you  are  talking.  If 
the  Grandlieu  family  stir  up  any  difficulty,  there 
are  other  young  and  aristocratic  women  whom  I  can 
marry ;  lastly,  it  is  no  reproach  for  me  to  remain  a 
bachelor,  especially  when,  as  you  believe,  I  am  car- 
rying on  so  prosperous  a  trade." 

"If  M.  1'Abbe  Carlos  Herrera— " 

"Monsieur,"  said  Lucien,  interrupting  Corentin, 
"the  Abbe  Carlos  Herrera  is  at  this  moment  on  his 
way  to  Spain.  He  has  nothing  to  do  with  my  mar- 
riage, and  no  concern  in  my  interests.  He  is  a 
politician,  and  has  been  kind  enough  to  aid  me  for 
years  with  his  advice,  but  he  is  obliged  to  render 
an  account  of  himself  to  his  Majesty,  the  King  of 
Spain ;  if  you  have  business  with  him  I  advise  you 
to  take  a  journey  to  Madrid." 

"Sir,"  said  Corentin  shortly,  "you  shall  never 
be  the  husband  of  Mademoiselle  Clotilde  de 
Grandlieu." 

"So  much  the  worse  for  her,"  replied  Lucien, 
pushing  Corentin  impatiently  toward  the  door. 

"Have  you  reflected  soberly?"  asked  Corentin 
coldly. 

"Sir,  I  do  not  recognize  your  right  to  interfere  in 
my  affairs,  nor  to  deprive  me  of  a  cigarette,"  said 
Lucien,  tossing  away  bis  extinguished  cigarette. 


356  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

"Good-bye,  sir,"  said  Corentin.  "We  shall  not 
see  each  other  again. — But  certainly  there  will 
come  a  time  in  your  life  when  you  would  give  half 
your  fortune  to  have  decided  to  stop  me  as  1  walked 
down  your  staircase." 

In  answer  to  this  menace  Carlos  drew  his  hand 
across  his  throat 

"To  work,  now!"  he  cried,  looking  at  Lucien 
who  had  grown  pale  after  this  terrible  conference. 

If,  among  the  limited  number  of  readers  who 
study  the  moral  and  philosophical  style  of  a  book, 
there  is  a  single  person  capable  of  believing  in  the 
satisfaction  of  the  Baron  de  Nucingen,  that  one  per- 
son would  prove  how  difficult  it  is  to  subject  the 
heart  of  a  courtesan  to  any  physiological  maxims 
whatsoever.  Esther  had  resolved  to  make  the  poor 
millionaire  pay  dearly  for  what  that  millionaire  called 
his  "tay  of  driumph."  In  the  early  days  of  Feb- 
ruary, 1830,  the  house-warming  had  not  yet  been 
given  in  the  leetle  balace. 

"But,"  said  Esther  confidentially  to  her  friends, 
who  repeated  the  speech  to  the  baron  at  the  carni- 
val, "I  keep  open  house  and  I  wish  to  make  my 
husband  happy  as  a  plaster  cock. ' ' 

This  phrase  became  proverbial  in  the  world  of 
these  women. 

The  baron  gave  himself  up  to  lamentation.  Like 
married  men,  he  became  somewhat  ridiculous;  he 
began  to  bewail  his  fate  in  the  presence  of  his  con- 
fidential friends,  and  his  discontent  was  noised 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN        357 

abroad.  Nevertheless  Esther  continued  conscien- 
tiously to  play  her  part  as  the  Madame  de  Pompa- 
dour of  the  prince  of  speculation.  She  had  already 
given  two  or  three  receptions  solely  for  the  purpose  of 
introducing  Lucien  into  her  house.  Lousteau,  Rastig- 
nac,  Du  Tillet,  Bixiou,  Nathan,  the  Count  de  Bram- 
bourg,  the  flower  of  rakes,  were  all  constant  guests 
at  her  salon.  Finally  Esther  accepted  as  actresses 
for  the  piece  which  she  was  playing,  Tullia,  Floren- 
tine, Fanny  Beaupre,  Florine,  two  actresses  and  two 
danseuses,  and  besides  these  Madame  du  Val  Noble. 
Nothing  is  more  melancholy  than  the  house  of  a  cour- 
tesan without  the  salt  of  rivalry,  competition  among 
gowns,  and  diversity  of  faces.  Within  six  weeks 
Esther  became  the  wittiest,  most  amusing,  love- 
liest, most  elegant  among  those  female  pariahs  who 
compose  the  class  to  which  she  belonged.  Placed 
on  her  true  pedestal,  she  tasted  all  the  delights  of 
vanity  which  seduce  ordinary  women,  but  always 
as  a  woman  whom  some  secret  thought  has  raised 
above  her  caste.  She  kept  within  her  heart  an 
image  of  herself  in  which  she  gloried  even  though 
it  made  her  blush;  the  hour  of  her  abdication  was 
always  present  to  her  consciousness ;  and  thus  she 
lived  doubly,  while  her  inward  life  did  not  cease  to 
pity  her  outer  existence.  Her  sarcasm  was  impreg- 
nated with  her  inner  disposition  where  there  re- 
mained the  deep  loathing,  which  the  angel  of  love 
dwelling  within  the  courtesan,  felt  toward  the  in- 
famous part,  vilely  played  by  the  body  in  the  pres- 
ence of  the  soul.  At  once  the  spectator  and  the 


358  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

actor,  the  judge  and  the  accused,  she  fulfilled  the 
admirable  fiction  of  Arabian  fairy  tales,  where 
there  is  almost  always  a  sublime  being  hidden  be- 
neath a  degraded  envelope,  whose  type,  under  the 
name  of  Nebuchadnezzar,  appears  in  the  book  of 
books,  the  Bible.  The  victim  who  had  been 
granted  life  only  to  the  day  of  her  infidelity,  might 
well  amuse  herself  at  the  expense  of  her  execu- 
tioner. Besides,  the  information  which  Esther  had 
acquired  concerning  the  secretly  shameful  methods 
to  which  the  baron  owed  his  colossal  fortune, 
removed  the  last  scruples  from  her  mind,  and 
she  delighted  to  play  the  part  of  the  goddess  Ate, — 
Vengeance,  as  Carlos  had  called  it. — Now  she  made 
herself  charming,  now  detestable,  to  this  million- 
aire who  lived  only  in  her.  When  at  length  the 
baron  had  reached  such  a  stage  of  suffering  that  he 
resolved  to  desert  Esther,  she  would  rivet  him  to 
her  more  strongly  than  ever  by  some  tender 
scene. 

Herrera  departed  publicly  for  Spain,  and  went  no 
further  than  Tours.  His  carriage  had  proceeded  as 
far  as  Bordeaux,  where  a  servant  was  left  to  play 
the  part  of  his  master  and  to  await  his  coming,  in  a 
Bordeaux  hotel.  Returning  by  diligence  in  the 
guise  of  a  commercial  traveler,  Carlos  had  secretly 
installed  himself  in  the  Rue  Saint  Georges,  where, 
through  the  medium  of  Asia,  Europe  and  Paccard, 
he  directed  his  machinations  with  care,  and  watched 
everybody,  especially  Peyrade. 

About  a  fortnight  before  the  day  chosen  for  her 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN         359 

f£te,  which  was  to  be  on  the  evening  following  the 
first  ball  at  the  Opera,  the  courtesan,  whose  wit  had 
begun  to  render  her  redoubtable,  sat  in  the  The- 
atre des  Italiens,  in  the  back  of  a  box  that  the 
baron — obliged  to  furnish  a  box — had  secured  on  the 
ground  floor  in  order  to  conceal  his  mistress  and  avoid 
appearing  by  her  side  in  public,  at  a  few  steps  from 
Madame  de  Nucingen.  Esther  had  chosen  a  position 
which  enabled  her  to  see  Madame  de  Serizy,  in 
whose  train  Lucien  was  almost  always  to  be  found. 
It  was  the  poor  courtesan's  happiness  to  be  able  to 
contemplate  Lucien  on  Tuesdays,  Thursdays  and 
Saturdays  as  he  talked  to  Madame  de  Serizy. 
Toward  half  past  nine  o'clock  Esther  saw  Lucien 
enter  the  countess'  box.  His  brow  was  contracted 
and  pale,  and  his  face  looked  almost  distorted. 
These  signs  of  inward  trouble  were  visible  only  to 
Esther.  The  knowledge  of  a  man's  face  is,  for  the 
woman  who  loves  him,  what  the  wide  sea  is  for  a 
mariner. 

"Heavens!  what  can  it  be?  what  has  happened? 
Can  he  have  need  to  speak  with  that  angel  of 
hell  who  is  his  guardian  angel,  and  who  lives  hid- 
den in  a  garret  between  the  rooms  of  Europe  and 
Asia?" 

Filled  with  such  cruel  thoughts  Esther  scarcely 
heard  the  music.  We  may  easily  believe  that  she 
had  no  ear  for  the  baron  who  sat  holding  his 
anchel's  hand  between  his  own,  chattering  to  her 
in  his  Polish- Jew  patois,  which  must  be  as  painful 
to  those  who  read  as  to  those  who  heard  it 


360  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

"Esder,"  said  he,  loosing  her  hand  and  pushing  it 
from  him  with  a  slight  movement  of  vexation, 
"you  to  nod  lisden  do  me." 

"Baron,  you  jabber  love  as  you  jabber  French." 

"Dertefil!" 

"This  is  not  my  boudoir;  I  am  at  the  Italiens. 
If  you  were  not  one  of  those  safes  manufactured  by 
Huret  or  Fichet,  and  metamorphosed  into  a  man  by 
some  strange  whim  of  nature,  you  wouldn't  make  so 
much  disturbance  in  the  box  of  a  woman  who  loves 
music.  Of  course  I  don't  listen  to  you.  You  sit 
there  bustling  about  my  gown  like  a  cock-chafer 
in  a  pile  of  papers,  and  you  force  me  to  smile  from 
mere  pity.  You  tell  me,  'you  are  luffly;  you  are 
zweed  enough  to  ead !' — You  old  sot!  suppose  that 
I  were  to  answer,  'You  are  less  displeasing  to  me 
to-day  than  yesterday ;  let  us  go  home  ?'  Why,  by 
the  way  in  which  you  breathe — for  even  if  I  did  not 
hear  you  I  couldn't  help  perceiving  you — I  see  that 
you  have  overeaten  enormously  and  that  your  di- 
gestion is  beginning.  Learn  this  of  me, — for  I  cost 
you  dearly  enough  to  give  you  now  and  then  a  bit  of 
advice  for  your  money ! — learn,  my  dear,  that  when 
a  person  has  a  troubled  digestion  like  yours  he  is 
not  permitted  to  say  indiscriminately  to  his  mis- 
tress at  all  times  and  seasons,  'You  are  luffly.' — An 
old  soldier  died  of  that  lunacy  in  the  arms  of  Re- 
ligion, as  Blondet  said.  It  is  ten  o'clock.  At  nine 
o'clock  you  finished  dining  with  Du  Tillet  and  your 
pigeon,  the  Count  de  Brambourg.  You  have  millions 
of  truffles  to  digest;  call  again  to-morrow  at  ten." 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN         361 

"How  gruel  you  are!"  exclaimed  the  baron,  who 
recognized  the  perfect  justice  of  this  medical  argu- 
ment 

"Cruel!"  repeated  Esther  without  taking  her 
eyes  off  Lucien.  "Have  you  not  consulted  Bian- 
chon,  Desplein  and  old  Haudry?  Since  you  have 
discerned  the  aurora  of  your  happiness,  do  you 
know  the  appearance  you  present  to  me?" 

"Vat?" 

"A  fat  countryman,  swathed  in  flannel,  who 
hour  after  hour  walks  from  his  arm-chair  to  his 
window  to  see  whether  the  thermometer  is  precisely 
at  ninety,  the  temperature  ordered  by  his  phy- 
sician." 

"You  are  eine  ungradevul  vooman !"  exclaimed 
the  baron,  despairing  of  hearing  music  such  as 
elderly  lovers  often  hear  at  the  Italiens. 

"Ungrateful!"  said  Esther.  "And  what  have 
you  given  me  until  now  ?  A  great  deal  of  discom- 
fort !  Think  a  moment,  papa ;  can  I  be  proud  of  you  ? 
You  are  proud  of  me ;  I  look  well  in  your  laces  and 
your  livery.  You  have  paid  my  debts! — Well  and 
good!  But  you  have  milked  the  public  of  millions 
enough — ah,  don't  make  a  face;  I  know  all  about 
you — to  make  this  too  trifling  to  think  of.  Yet  it 
is  your  best  title  to  glory.  A  woman  from  the 
streets,  and  a  thief;  nothing  could  make  a  better 
match.  You  have  built  a  magnificent  cage  for  a 
paroquet  that  pleases  you.  Go  and  ask  of  some 
Brazilian  macaw  whether  he  owes  a  debt  of  grat- 
itude to  the  keeper  who  has  shut  him  in  his  cage. 


362  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

Don't  look  at  me  like  that;  you  look  like  a  heathen 
priest  You  show  your  red  and  white  macaw  to  all 
Paris.  You  say,  'Is  there  anybody  else  in  Paris 
who  owns  such  a  paroquet  as  this  ?  How  he  chat- 
ters !  how  cleverly  he  hits  on  the  right  word !'  Du 
Tillet  enters;  he  says  to  him,  'Good  morning,  you 
young  rascal. '  You  are  happy  as  a  Dutchman  with 
a  unique  tulip,  as  an  old  nabob  living  in  Asia  on  an 
English  pension,  who  has  just  bought  of  a  commer- 
cial traveler  the  first  Swiss  snuff-box  that  has  the 
advantage  of  three  openings.  You  wish  for  my 
heart ;  wait,  I  will  show  you  the  means  of  gaining  it ' ' 

"Dell  me,  dell  me!  I  vill  to  everyding  vor  you. 
I  luff  to  pe  plackguartet  by  you !" 

"Be  young,  be  handsome,  be  like  Lucien  de  Ru- 
bempre,  who  stands  there  near  your  wife,  and  you 
shall  have  gratis  that  which  you  can  never  buy  with 
all  your  millions." 

"I  leaf  you,  vor  ubon  mein  vort,  you  are  egse- 
graple  zis  efening!"  said  the  lynx,  drawing  a  long 
face. 

"Good-night  then,"  replied  Esther.  "Bid 
Chorches  raise  the  head  of  your  bed  very  high  and 
let  your  feet  slope  downward  for  to-night  Your 
complexion  looks  apoplectic.  Now,  dear,  never  say 
that  I  take  no  interest  in  your  health." 

The  baron  was  standing  with  his  hand  on  the 
door-knob. 

"Come  here,  Nucingen!"  said  Esther,  calling 
him  back  with  a  haughty  wave  of  her  hand.  The 
baron  bent  over  her  with  canine  servility. 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN         363 

"Do  you  want  me  to  be  kind  to  you  and  give 
you  eau  sucr'ee  to  drink  at  my  house  to-night, 
while  I  caress  you,  you  fat  monster?" 

"You  preak  my  heard." 

"  ' Preak  your  heard,'  that's  described  in  a  single 
word,  gife!"  replied  she,  mimicking  the  baron's  pro- 
nunciation. "Send  Lucien  to  me.  1  want  to  in- 
vite him  to  our  Balthasar's  Feast;  I'm  sure  that  he 
will  not  refuse.  If  you  succeed  in  this  small  nego- 
tiation, I'll  tell  you  so  sweetly  that  I  love  you,  my 
fat  Frederick,  that  you  will  believe  me." 

"You  are  eine  enghandress, "  said  the  baron, 
kissing  Esther's  glove.  "I  vould  gonzent  to  have 
you  rail  ad  me  vor  ein  hour  eef  zere  were  zurely 
eine  garesse  ad  ze  ent. " 

"Go.  If  I  am  not  obeyed,  I — "  said  she,  men- 
acing the  baron  with  her  finger  as  mothers  do  to 
children. 

The  baron  raised  his  head  like  a  bird  caught  in 
a  trap,  as  it  looks  imploringly  toward  the  hunter. 

"Oh,  God!  What  can  have  happened  to  Lu- 
cien?" said  she  to  herself.  When  left  alone  she  no 
longer  restrained  the  tears  which  fell  fast  from  her 
eyes.  "He  has  never  been  so  sad  before!" 

This  is  what  had  happened  to  Lucien  that  very 
evening.  At  nine  o'clock,  according  to  his  usual 
custom,  Lucien  had  driven  out  in  a  cab  on  his  way 
to  the  Grandlieu  mansion.  Reserving  his  saddle 
horse  and  his  driving  horse  for  the  morning,  as  all 
young  men  do,  he  had  hired  a  coupe  for  his  winter 
evenings,  and  had  selected  from  the  stock  of  a 


364  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

fashionable  livery  stable  one  of  the  most  magnifi- 
cent, drawn  by  magnificent  horses  to  match.  For  a 
month  past  everything  had  smiled  on  him :  he  had 
dined  thrice  at  the  Grandlieu  table;  the  duke  had 
been  most  cordial ;  his  stock  in  the  omnibus  system, 
sold  for  three  hundred  thousand  francs,  had  enabled 
him  to  pay  another  third  toward  the  purchase  of 
his  estate;  Clotilde  de  Grandlieu,  who  now  made 
the  most  careful  toilettes,  had  at  least  ten  pots  of 
paint  on  her  face  when  he  entered  the  parlor,  and 
she  openly  avowed  her  love  for  him.  Several  per- 
sons of  distinction  talked  of  the  marriage  of  Lucien 
with  Mademoiselle  de  Grandlieu  as  a  probable 
event  The  Duke  de  Chaulieu,  former  ambassador 
to  Spain,  and,  for  a  brief  moment,  Minister  of  For- 
eign Affairs,  had  promised  the  Duchess  de  Grand- 
lieu  to  beg  of  the  king  the  title  of  marquis  for  Lu- 
cien. After  taking  dinner  with  Madame  de  Serizy, 
Lucien  had  gone  that  evening  from  the  Rue  de 
la  Chausee  d'Antin  to  the  Faubourg  Saint  Ger- 
main to  make  his  daily  visit  Arrived  there,  his 
coachman  called,  the  gates  were  opened,  and 
the  cab  stopped  at  the  door  of  the  house.  As 
he  stepped  from  his  equipage,  Lucien  noticed 
four  carriages  in  the  court-yard.  Immediately 
upon  perceiving  M.  de  Rubempre,  one  of  the  foot- 
men, who  opened  and  closed  the  door  of  the 
peristyle,  advances,  walks  out  upon  the  porch 
and  stands  before  the  door  like  a  soldier  at  his 
post  of  duty. 
"His  grace  is  not  at  home!"  says  he. 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN         365 

"Madame  la  Duchesse  is  receiving,"  observed 
Lucien  to  the  valet. 

"Madame  la  Duchesse  is  out,"  replied  the  valet 
with  gravity. 

"Mademoiselle  Clotilde— " 

"I  believe  that  Mademoiselle  Clotilde  does  not 
receive,  sir,  in  the  absence  of  Madame  la 
Duchesse." 

"But  there  are  people  here,"  replied  Lucien, 
thunderstruck. 

"I  do  not  know,"  answered  the  footman,  endeav- 
oring to  be  at  once  uncommunicative  and  respectful. 

There  is  nothing  so  terrible  as  etiquette  for  those 
who  admit  it  to  be  the  most  formidable  law  of 
society.  Lucien  was  at  no  loss  to  understand 
the  full  significance  of  this  scene,  disastrous  for 
him:  the  duke  and  the  duchess  were  unwilling 
to  receive  him.  He  felt  the  spinal  marrow  freez- 
ing within  the  rings  of  his  vertebral  column,  and 
a  few  drops  of  cold  sweat  stood  out  upon  his 
forehead.  This  conversation  had  taken  place  in 
the  presence  of  his  own  valet,  who  held  the 
handle  of  the  carriage  door  and  was  waiting  to 
close  it  Lucien  nodded  his  readiness  to  depart, 
but  as  he  was  stepping  into  the  cab  he  heard  a 
scuttling  noise,  such  as  people  make  when  they  de- 
scend a  staircase,  and  then  the  successive  cries  of 
the  footman:  "The  servants  of  his  lordship,  the 
Duke  de  Chaulieu!  The  servants  of  Madame  la 
Vicountess  de  Grandlieu!"  Lucien  said  but  a  word 
to  his  valet,  "To  the  Theatre  des  Italiens;  be 


366  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

quick!"  In  spite  of  his  haste  the  unfortunate 
dandy  could  not  avoid  the  Duke  de  Chaulieu  and 
his  son,  the  Duke  de  Rhetore,  with  whom  he  was 
obliged  to  exchange  salutes,  for  they  did  not  say 
a  word.  A  great  catastrophe  at  court,  the  fall  of  a 
redoubtable  favorite  is  often  consummated  on  the 
threshold  of  a  cabinet  by  the  words  of  a  doorkeeper, 
with  the  face  of  a  plaster  cast. 

"How  can  this  disaster  be  instantly  made  known 
to  my  counsellor  ?"  Lucien  had  asked  himself  on 
his  way  to  the  Italiens.  "What  can  be  happen- 
ing?" 

He  became  lost  in  conjectures.  This  is  what 
had  taken  place:  That  same  morning,  at  eleven 
o'clock,  the  Duke  de  Grandlieu  had  said  to  Clotilde 
as  he  entered  the  little  parlor  where  the  family 
breakfasted  in  the  absence  of  company,  "My  child, 
until  further  orders  have  nothing  to  do  with  M.  de 
Rubempre. " 

Then  he  had  taken  the  duchess  by  the  hand  and 
had  led  her  into  the  embrasure  of  a  window  to  say 
to  her  in  a  low  voice  a  few  words  which  made  poor 
Clotilde  change  color.  As  Mademoiselle  de  Grand- 
lieu  watched  her  mother  listening  to  the  duke,  she 
saw  a  startled  look  of  surprise  come  over  her  face. 

"Jean,"  the  duke  had  said  to  one  of  his  domes- 
tics, "here,  take  this  short  note  to  his  lordship,  the 
Duke  de  Chaulieu ;  ask  him  to  give  you  an  answer, 
'yes'  or  'no.' — I  am  inviting  him  to  dine  with  us 
to-day,"  he  added,  turning  toward  his  wife. 

The  breakfast  had  been  profoundly  sad.     The 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN         367 

duchess  seemed  thoughtful;  the  duke  appeared 
angry  with  himself,  and  Clotilde  could  scarcely 
hold  back  her  tears. 

"My  child,  your  father  is  right;  obey  him,"  the 
mother  had  said  to  her  daughter  in  a  compassionate 
voice.  "I  cannot  say,  like  him,  'do  not  think  of 
Lucien;'  no,  I  understand  your  sorrow. — Clotilde 
kissed  her  mother's  hand. — But,  my  angel,  my  ad- 
vice to  you  is:  Wait  without  taking  a  single  step; 
suffer  in  silence,  since  you  love  him,  and  trust  in 
the  fond  care  of  your  parents!  Noble  ladies,  my 
child,  are  noble  because  they  know  how  to  do  their 
duty  on  all  occasions  with  nobleness." 

"What  is  it  about?"  asked  Clotilde,  pale  as  a 
lily. 

"Things  too  grave  to  speak  of  in  your  presence, 
dear  heart,"  answered  the  duchess;  "for  if  they 
are  false  they  would  sully  your  thoughts  to  no  pur- 
pose, and  if  true,  you  must  never  know  them." 

At  six  o'clock  the  Duke  de  Chaulieu  had  found 
the  Duke  de  Grandlieu  awaiting  him  in  his  study. 

"Advise  me,  Henri — these  two  dukes  called  each 
other  familiarly  by  their  first  names.  It  is  one  of 
those  shades  of  etiquette  invented  in  order  to  mark 
the  degrees  of  intimacy,  to  repel  the  advances  of 
French  familiarity,  and  to  humiliate  pride  of 
others — advise  me,  Henri.  I  am  in  such  a  quan- 
dary that  I  can  take  counsel  only  of  an  old  friend 
who  knows  the  world,  and  you  know  it, by  heart 
My  daughter  Clotilde  is  in  love,  as  you  have 
heard,  with  that  little  Rubempre,  to  whom  they 


368  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

have  half  obliged  me  to  promise  her  hand.  I  have 
always  opposed  the  match,  but  the  truth  of  the 
matter  is  that  Madame  de  Grandlieu  could  not  defend 
herself  against  Clotilde's  love.  When  the  fellow 
had  bought  his  estate  and  had  paid  three-quarters 
of  the  purchase-money,  I  could  no  longer  make  any 
objection.  And  then  last  night  I  received  an  anony- 
mous letter — you  know  such  things  should  be  taken 
with  a  grain  of  salt — in  which  I  was  told  that  the 
fellow's  fortune  comes  from  a  dishonest  source,  and 
that  his  story,  that  the  funds  necessary  to  the  pur- 
chase of  his  property  came  from  his  sister,  was  all 
a  lie.  The  letter  ended  by  advising  me,  in  the 
name  of  my  daughter's  happiness  and  of  my  fam- 
ily's honor,  to  make  inquiries  and  pointed  out  to 
me  the  means  of  enlightening  myself.  Here  it  is, 
read  it" 

"I  share  your  opinion  of  anonymous  letters,  my 
dear  Ferdinand,"  replied  the  Duke  de  Chaulieu, 
when  he  had  read  the  letter  to  the  end;  "but  dis- 
trust them  as  he  may,  a  man  ought  to  make  use  of 
them.  These  letters  are  precisely  like  spies. 
Close  your  doors  to  this  fellow,  and  proceed  with 
your  investigation.  Ah !  I  know  exactly  what  you 
want  Your  lawyer  is  Derville,  a  man  in  whom 
we  have  entire  confidence;  he  has  the  secrets  of 
many  a  family,  and  can  keep  this  one  as  well. 
He's  a  man  of  integrity,  a  man  of  weight,  a  man  of 
honor;  he's  adroit  and  cunning,  but  he  has  only 
the  shrewdness  that  belongs  to  business ;  you  should 
employ  him  only  to  obtain  proofs  of  which  you 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN         369 

must  be  the  judge.  We  have  at  the  ministry  of 
foreign  affairs,  through  the  police  of  the  kingdom, 
an  extraordinary  man,  whom  we  often  employ  to 
discover  state  secrets.  Apprise  Derville  that  in 
this  affair  he  will  have  a  lieutenant  Our  detec- 
tive is  a  gentleman  who  will  present  himself  deco- 
rated with  the  Legion  of  Honor;  he  will  have  all  the 
air  of  a  diplomat  This  fellow  will  be  the  hunts- 
man, and  Derville  will  simply  assist  in  the  chase. 
Your  attorney  will  tell  you  whether  the  mountain 
bringeth  forth  a  mouse  or  whether  you  ought  to 
break  with  young  Rubempre.  In  a  week  you  will 
know  what  course  to  take." 

"The  young  man  is  scarcely  enough  of  a  marquis 
at  present  to  take  offence  because  he  finds  me  'out' 
for  a  week,"  remarked  the  Duke  de  Grandlieu. 

"Certainly  not  if  you  give  him  your  daughter," 
replied  the  ex-minister.  "If  the  anonymous  letter 
is  right,  how  can  it  inconvenience  you  ?  You  will 
send  Clotilde  on  a  journey  with  my  daughter-in- 
law  Madeleine,  who  wants  to  go  to  Italy." 

"You  solve  my  difficulty!  and  yet  I  scarcely 
know  whether  I  ought  to  thank  you — " 

"Wait  for  the  outcome." 

"Ah!"  exclaimed  the  Duke  de  Grandlieu,  "what 
is  the  gentleman's  name?  I  must  tell  Derville. 
Send  him  to  me  to-morrow  at  four  o'clock;  I  shall 
have  Derville ;  I  will  introduce  them  to  each  other." 

"The  real  name,"  said  the  ex-minister,  "is,  I 
believe,  Corentin — a  name  that  you  must  be 
ignorant  of;  but  this  gentleman  will  come  to  your 
24 


370  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

house  under  his  ministerial  name.  He  is  called 
M.  de  Saint  something — ah!  Saint  Yves!  Sainte 
Valere !— either  of  them  will  do.  You  can  trust 
him;  Louis  XVIII.  trusted  him  completely." 

After  this  conference  the  major-domo  received 
orders  to  close  the  door  to  M.  de  Rubempre ;  a  com- 
mand which  was  fulfilled. 


Lucien  was  walking  up  and  down  the  foyer  of 
the  Italiens  like  a  drunken  man.  He  saw  himself 
the  talk  of  all  Paris.  In  the  Duke  de  Rhetore  he 
had  one  of  those  pitiless  enemies  on  whom  a  man 
must  smile  without  the  possibility  of  revenge, 
since  their  attacks  are  conformable  to  the  laws  of 
the  world.  The  Duke  de  Rhetore  knew  the  scene 
which  had  just  taken  place  on  the  porch  of  the 
Grandlieu  mansion.  Lucien,  who  felt  the  neces- 
sity of  telling  this  disaster  speedily  to  his  intimate 
privy-counselor,  feared  lest  he  might  compromise 
himself  still  further  by  going  to  Esther's  house, 
where  he  would  be  apt  to  meet  acquaintances.  So 
great  was  the  confusion  of  his  mind  that  he  forgot 
Esther's  presence  in  the  theatre;  and  in  the  midst 
of  his  perplexity  he  was  obliged  to  talk  with 
Rastignac,  who,  not  having  heard  the  news,  con- 
gratulated him  on  his  approaching  marriage.  At 
this  moment  Nucingen  advanced  with  a  smiling 
face  and  said  to  Lucien : 

"Vill  you  to  me  ze  kintness  of  goming  to  zee 
Montame  te  Jamby,  who  vishes  to  eenfite  you  her- 
zelf  to  our  house-varming." 

"Gladly,  baron,"  answered  Lucien,  to  whom  the 
financier  appeared  like  a  protecting  angel. 

"Leave  us,"  said  Esther  to  M.  de  Nucingen, 
when  she  saw  him  entering  with  Lucien;  "go  and 
(37i) 


372  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

see  Madame  du  Val  Noble,  whom  I  see  sitting  with 
her  nabob  in  a  box  in  the  third  tier.  He  is  very 
much  like  the  nabobs  in  the  Indies,"  she  added, 
casting  an  intelligent  glance  toward  Lucien. 

"And  he,"  said  Lucien,  smiling,  "bears  a  ter- 
rible resemblance  to  yours." 

"And,"  added  Esther,  answering  Lucien  by 
another  look  full  of  meaning,  while  she  continued 
to  talk  to  the  baron,  "bring  her  and  her  nabob 
hither;  he  is  very  anxious  to  make  your  acquaint- 
ance ;  they  say  that  he  is  immensely  rich.  The 
poor  woman  has  already  sung  countless  elegies  to 
me.  She  complains  that  her  nabob  is  immovable ; 
if  you  rid  him  of  his  money  bags,  he'll  have  less 
ballast" 

"You  zeem  to  dake  us  vor  roppers!"  said  the 
baron  as  he  went  out. 

"What  is  the  matter,  my  Lucien?"  whispered 
Esther  in  her  lover's  ear,  which  her  lips  touched 
as  the  door  of  the  box  closed. 

"I  am  lost!  I  have  just  been  refused  admittance 
to  the  Grandlieu  house,  under  the  pretext  that 
nobody  was  at  home.  The  duke  and  duchess  were 
there,  and  five  fine  carriages  were  waiting  in  the 
courtyard." 

"What!  your  marriage  broken  off?"  said  Esther, 
in  an  agitated  tone,  as  if  she  could  see  a  distant 
Paradise. 

"As  yet,  I  do  not  even  know  the  conspiracy  against 
me." 

"My    Lucien,"    she   answered   in  a   strangely 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN         373 

fascinating  voice,  "why  are  you  sad?  You  will 
make  a  better  marriage,  later. — I  will  win  two 
estates  for  you. ' ' 

"Give  a  supper  to-night  so  that  1  can  speak  se- 
cretly with  Carlos,  and  above  all  invite  the  sham 
Englishman  and  Madame  du  Val  Noble.  This  nabob 
is  the  cause  of  my  ruin ;  he  is  our  enemy ;  we  must 
get  him  in  our  power  and  then  we'll — " 

But  Lucien  stopped  with  a  gesture  of  despair. 

"What  is  it  now  ?"  asked  the  poor  girl,  who  felt  as 
if  she  were  seated  on  live  coals. 

"Oh!  Madame  de  Serizy  sees  me!"  exclaimed 
Lucien,  "and  to  complete  my  misfortunes,  the  Duke 
de  Rhetore,  one  of  the  witnesses  of  my  discomfiture, 
is  with  her." 

It  was  true.  At  that  very  moment,  the  Duke  de 
Rhetore  was  playing  upon  the  sorrow  of  the  Count- 
ess de  Serizy. 

"You  allow  Lucien  to  show  himself  in  Mademoi- 
selle Esther's  box?"  the  young  duke  was  saying  as 
he  pointed  out  the  box  and  Lucien.  "You,  who  take 
an  interest  in  him,  should  warn  him  that  this  kind 
of  thing  must  not  be.  He  can  sup  at  her  house  or  per- 
haps even — but,  upon  my  word,  I  am  not  astonished 
at  the  coolness  of  the  Grandlieu  toward  this  fellow: 
I  just  saw  him  refused  admittance,  on  the  porch." 

"Those  women  are  very  dangerous !"  said  Madame 
de  Serizy,  who  held  her  lorgnette  leveled  against 
Esther's  box. 

"Yes,"  said  the  duke,  "as  dangerous  for  what  they 
can  do  as  for  what  they  would  like-—" 


374  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

"They  will  ruin  him!"  said  Madame  de  Serizy, 
"for  I  am  told  that  they  are  as  expensive  when  a 
man  does  not  pay  them  as  when  he  does." 

"Not  for  him!"  replied  the  young  duke,  feign- 
ing astonishment  "They  are  far  from  costing  him 
anything;  they  would  give  him  money  were  he  in 
want  They  all  run  after  him." 

About  the  corners  of  the  countess'  mouth  there 
came  a  little  nervous  twitch,  which  could  not  be 
included  within  the  category  of  her  smiles. 

"As  you  will,"  said  Esther;  "come  to  supper  at 
midnight  Bring  Blondet  and  Rastignac.  Have  at 
least  two  amusing  people,  and  let  us  not  be  more 
than  nine." 

"Some  method  must  be  found  to  induce  the  baron 
to  summon  Europe,  under  the  pretext  of  giving  direc- 
tions to  Asia,  and  you  must  tell  her  what  has  hap- 
pened to  me  so  that  Carlos  may  know  it  before  he 
has  the  nabob  in  his  clutches." 

"It  shall  be  done,"  said  Esther. 

Thus  Peyrade  was  probably  to  be  beneath  the  roof 
that  covered  his  adversary.  The  tiger  was  coming 
into  the  lion's  den,  and  the  lion  was  well  guarded. 

When  Lucien  re-entered  Madame  de  Serizy's  box, 
instead  of  turning  her  head  toward  him,  of  smiling 
upon  him,  and  of  arranging  her  gown  so  that  he 
might  sit  by  her  side,  she  paid  not  the  least  atten- 
tion to  the  new-comer  and  continued  to  gaze  across 
the  theatre,  through  her  lorgnette ;  but  Lucien  per- 
ceived by  the  trembling  of  her  cheeks  that  the 
countess  was  a  prey  to  one  of  those  terrible  fits  of 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN         375 

agitation  which  are  the  expiation  of  unlawful  love. 
He  advanced,  nevertheless,  to  the  front  of  the  box, 
near  her,  and  stationed  himself  in  the  opposite  angle, 
leaving  a  small  empty  space  between  the  countess 
and  him;  he  leaned  against  the  railing  of  the  box, 
rested  his  right  elbow  upon  it,  and  his  chin  upon 
his  gloved  hand ;  then  he  posed  as  for  a  three-quarters 
portrait,  waiting  for  her  to  speak.  When  the  middle 
of  the  act  came,  the  countess  had  not  uttered  a  word. 
She  had  not  even  looked  at  him. 

'-'I  do  not  know,"  she  said  at  length, "why  you  are 
here;  your  place  is  in  Mademoiselle  Esther's  box." 

"I  go  thither,"  said  Lucien,  who  went  out  with- 
out looking  at  the  countess. 

"Ah!  my  dear,"  said  Madame  du  Val  Noble,  as 
she  entered  Esther's  box  in  company  with  Peyrade, 
whom  the  Baron  de  Nucingen  did  not  recognize,  "I 
am  delighted  to  present  to  you  M.  Samuel  Johnson; 
he  is  a  warm  admirer  of  M.  de  Nucingen's  talent" 

"Really,  monsieur?"  said  Esther,  smiling  toward 
Peyrade. 

"Oh!  yes,  very  great,"  said  Peyrade  in  bad 
French. 

"Well,  baron,  here  is  French  that  is  as  like  yours  as 
Bas  Breton  is  like  Burgundian.  It  will  amuse  me  im- 
mensely to  hear  you  talk  about  money-matters.  Do 
you  know  what  I  demand  of  you,  monsieur  nabob,  in 
return  for  making  the  acquaintance  of  my  baron?" 
said  she  smiling. 

"Oh!  I  thank  you,  then  you  will  present  me  to 
monsir  le  beronnette." 


376  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

"Yes,"  she  replied,  "you  must  do  me  the  pleasure 
of  supping  with  me.  There  is  no  pitch  which 
attaches  men  to  one  another  like  champagne;  it 
seals  every  matter  of  business,  especially  the  deep- 
est Come  to-night,  you  will  find  good  company — 
and,  as  to  you — my  little  Frederic,"  she  added  in  the 
baron's  ear,  "you  have  your  carriage;  hurry  to  the 
Rue  Saint  Georges  and  bring  Europe  to  me ;  I  must 
have  a  word  or  two  with  her  in  regard  to  my  supper. 
I  have  secured  Lucien ;  he  will  bring  a  couple  of 
wits  with  him. — We'll  make  the  Englishman  pose  as 
a  laughing  stock,"  whispered  she  to  Madame du  Val 
Noble. 

Peyrade  and  the  baron  left  the  two  women  alone. 

"Ah!  my  dear,  you  will  be  clever  if  you  ever 
succeed  in  making  that  brute  a  laughing  stock," 
said  La  Val  Noble. 

"If  it  were  impossible,  you  would  lend  him  to  me 
for  a  week,"  answered  Esther  laughing. 

"No,  you  would  never  keep  him  half  a  day," 
replied  Madame  du  Val  Noble.  "My  bread  is  too 
hard;  it  breaks  my  teeth.  As  long  as  I  live  I  hope 
never  to  have  another  Englishman's  happiness  in 
my  keeping.  They  are  all  cold-blooded  egoists, 
pigs  in  men's  clothes." 

"What,    no  tenderness?"  asked  Esther  smiling. 

"Not  an  atom,  my  dear.  The  monster  has  never 
called  me  by  an  endearing  name." 

"Never?"  said  Esther. 

"The  wretch  invariably  calls  me  'madame,'  and 
at  the  times  when  all  men  are  more  or  less  tender, 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN         377 

always  keeps  perfectly  cool.  Love!  heavens  and 
earth!  For  him  it's  like  shaving.  He  wipes  his 
razors ;  he  puts  them  into  the  case,  he  looks  at  him- 
self in  the  glass  and  seems  to  be  saying:  'I  have  not 
cut  myself. '  He  treats  me  with  a  respect  that  drives 
a  woman  wild.  This  villainous  stink-pot  milord 
amused  himself  with  making  poor  Theodore  hide, 
and  leaving  him  standing  in  my  dressing-room  for 
half  a  day  at  a  time.  Then  he  tries  to  cross  me  in 
everything.  And  close-fisted! — As  Gobseck  and 
Gigonnet  together.  He  takes  me  out  to  dinner  and 
doesn't  pay  for  the  carriage  that  brings  me  home,  if 
I  have  not  ordered  my  own." 

"What  does  he  give  you?"  said  Esther. 

"Oh,  my  dear,  absolutely  nothing.  Five  hun- 
dred francs  a  month,  no  extras,  except  my  carriage. 
And  what  is  that  ?  A  carriage  such  as  grocers  hire 
to  go  to  the  mayor's  office  on  their  wedding  day  or 
to  drive  to  church  or  the  Cadran  bleu.  He  pesters 
me  with  his  respect  If  I  pretend  to  be  nervous  and 
unwell  he  is  quite  indifferent,  and  says,  'I  want 
milady  to  do  exactly  as  she  pleases,  for  nothing  is 
more  detestable,  ungraceful,  than  to  say  to  a  pretty 
woman,  'you  are  a  bale  of  cotton,  a  piece  of  mer- 
chandise. Eh !  Eh !  You  belong  to  a  member  of  the 
society  of  temperance  and  anti-slavery. '  And  my 
prize  stands  there  pale,  self-contained,  cold,  thus 
giving  me  to  understand  that  he  respects  me  as 
he  would  respect  a  negro.  It  has  nothing  to  do 
with  his  heart,  but  rather  with  his  abolitionist 
opinions." 


378  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

"He  couldn't  be  more  odious,"  said  Esther,  "but 
I  would  ruin  such  a  beast." 

"Ruin  him  ?"  objected  Madame  du  Val  Noble.  How 
could  I  unless  he  loved  me  ?  But  even  you  would 
scarcely  care  to  ask  him  for  a  penny.  He  would 
listen  to  you  gravely  and  would  answer  you  with 
those  Britannic  formalities,  which  make  you  long  to 
box  his  ears,  that  he  was  paying  dearly  enough 
for  the  trifling  difference  that  love  made  in  his  poor 
life." 

"To  think  that  in  our  sphere  we  can  meet  with 
men  such  as  he !"  exclaimed  Esther. 

"Ah,  my  dear,  you  have  had  the  chance  your- 
self! Take  care  of  your  Nucingen." 

"But  your  nabob  has  a  purpose." 

"That  is  what  Adele  told  me,"  replied  Madame 
du  Val  Noble. 

"Now,  my  dear,  perhaps  he  intends  to  become 
hateful  to  a  woman  so  as  to  be  sent  away  after  a 
time,"  suggested  Esther. 

"Or  perhaps  he  wants  to  make  some  business 
venture  with  Nucingen,  and  chooses  me  because  he 
knows  how  intimate  you  and  I  are;  that's  what 
Adele  believes,"  continued  Madame  du  Val  Noble. 
"That  is  why  I  introduced  him  to  you  this  evening. 
Ah!  If  I  could  be  certain  what  his  plans  are,  what 
a  neat  arrangement  I  might  make  with  you  and 
Nucingen!" 

"You  don't  fly  into  a  passion?"  said  Esther,  "you 
don't  tell  him  his  business  from  time  to  time?" 

"You  might  try  it,  you  are  very  clever; — but,  in 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN         379 

spite  of  all  your  attractions,  he  would  kill  you  with 
his  icy  smiles.  He  would  answer  you:  'I  am  on  the 
side  of  anti-slavery  and  you  are  free.' — However 
amusing  you  might  be,  he  would  look  at  you  and 
say,  'Very  good,'  and  you  would  see  that  in  his 
eyes  you  were  nothing  more  than  a  Punchinello." 

"How  about  anger?" 

"The  same  thing!  It  would  amuse  him.  You  might 
cut  into  his  left  breast  without  hurting  him  a  parti- 
cle ;  his  heart  must  be  made  of  tin.  1  told  him  so. 
His  answer  was,  'I  am  quite  content  with  this  physi- 
cal arrangement.' — Always  polite,  my  dear;  his 
very  soul  is  gloved.  I  am  going  to  suffer  this  martyr- 
dom for  several  days  longer  in  order  to  satisfy  my 
curiosity.  Had  it  not  been  for  that,  I  should  have 
had  his  ears  boxed  long  ago  by  Philip, who  has  not 
his  equal  at  fencing.  There  is  nothing  else  that — " 

"I  was  just  go  ing  to  suggest  it!"  exclaimed  Esther ; 
"but  first  you  should  find  out  whether  he  knows  how 
to  box,  for  among  these  old  Englishmen  that  saves 
them  from  attacks  of  malice — " 

"That  man  has  not  his  equal!  If  you  saw  him 
waiting  for  my  orders,  asking  at  what  hour  he  may 
present  himself  so  as  to  surprise  me — when  every- 
thing was  arranged  beforehand! — and  employing  all 
the  outward  formulae  of  respect,  such  as  gentlemen 
use,  you  would  say,  'This  woman  is  worshipped,' 
and  there's  not  a  woman  living  who  wouldn't  say  as 
much." 

"And  yet  people  envy  us,  my  dear !"  said  Esther. " 

"True!"  exclaimed  Madame  du  Val  Noble.    "We 


380  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

have  all  learned,  more  or  less,  in  our  lives  how  little 
men  care  for  us ;  but,  dearest,  I  have  never  been  so 
cruelly,  so  deeply,  so  thoroughly  hurt  by  brutality  as 
I  am  by  the  respect  of  this  gross  wine-bibber.  When 
he  is  drunk  he  goes  away,  so  as  not  to  be  unpleasant, 
as  he  said  to  Adele,  and  so  as  not  to  'belong  to  two 
powers  at  once,  wine  and  woman.'  He  monopolizes 
my  carriage  and  makes  use  of  it  far  more  than  I. 
Oh !  if  we  .could  only  make  him  roll  about  under 
the  table  to-night! — But  he  drinks  ten  bottles  and  is 
merely  intoxicated;  his  eye  looks  clouded,  but  he 
can  see  clearly." 

"He's  like  people  who  live  in  a  house  with  win- 
dows dirty  on  the  outside,"  said  Esther;  "they 
can  see  everything  that  goes  on  without.  I  know 
this  peculiarity  among  mankind;  Du  Tillet  has  this 
quality  in  a  superlative  degree." 

"  Try  to  have  Du  Tillet  and  add  Nucingen;  if  they 
could  drag  him  into  some  of  their  combinations,  I 
should  be  revenged!  They  would  reduce  him  to 
beggary!  Ah!  my  dear,  to  fall  to  a  hypocrite  of  a 
Protestant  after  poor  Falleix,  who  was  so  amusing, 
so  kind-hearted,  so  droll.  How  we  have  laughed 
together.  They  say  that  brokers  are  always 
stupid; — his  wit  was  never  lacking  but  once — " 

"When  he  left  you  without  a  penny?  That 
taught  you  the  pains  of  pleasure." 

Europe,  under  M.  de  Nucingen's  escort,  put  her 
viper-like  head  in  at  the  door  and,  after  having  heard 
a  few  sentences  which  her  mistress  whispered  in 
her  ear,  she  disappeared. 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN         381 

At  half  past  eleven  o'clock  that  night,  five  car- 
riages were  waiting,  in  the  Rue  Saint  Georges, 
before  the  door  of  the  illustrious  courtesan;  one 
belonged  to  Lucien,  who  came  with  Rastignac,  Blon- 
det,  and  Bixiou,  another  to  Du  Tillet,  a  third  to  the 
Baron  de  Nucingen,  the  fourth  to  the  nabob,  and  the 
fifth  to  Florine,  who  had  been  carried  off  by  Du  Tillet 
The  threefold  windows  were  hidden  by  magnificent 
curtains  of  Chinese  silk.  The  supper  was  to  be 
served  at  one  o'clock.  The  candles  burned  brightly ; 
the  little  parlor  and  the  dining-room,  displayed  all 
their  splendor.  Everything  promised  one  of  those 
nights  of  debauch  such  as  these  three  women  and 
these  men  alone  could  undergo.  The  company  was 
to  play  cards,  for  there  were  nearly  two  hours  to 
while  away. 

"Do  you  play,  milord?"  asked  Du  Tillet  of 
Peyrade. 

"I  have  played  with  O'Connell,  Pitt,  Fox,  Can- 
ning, Lord  Brougham,  Lord — " 

"Rattle  off  at  once  the  names  of  an  infinity  of 
lords,"  said  Bixiou. 

"Lord  Fitz-William,  Lord  Ellenborough,  Lord 
Hertfort,  Lord—" 

Bixiou  looked  at  Peyrade's  shoes  and  bowed. 

"What  are  you  looking  for?"  asked  Blondet  of 
his  friend. 

"A  spring  to  press  and  stop  the  machine,"  said 
Florine. 

"Do  you  play  for  twenty  francs  the  hand  ?"  asked 
Lucien. 


382  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

"I  play  for  all  you  care  to  lose,"  replied  the  nabob. 

"Is  he  good  at  the  game?"  said  Esther  to  Lucien. 
"They  all  take  him  for  an  Englishman!" 

Du  Tillet,  Nucingen,  Peyrade  and  Rastignac  sat 
down  at  the  whist  table.  Florine,  Madame  du  Val 
Noble,  Esther,  Blondet  and  Bixiou  grouped  them- 
selves about  the  fire  to  talk.  Lucien  passed  the 
time  in  turning  over  the  leaves  of  a  magnificent 
volume  of  engravings. 

"Madame,  dinner  is  served,"  said  Paccard, 
dressed  in  a  resplendent  livery. 

Peyrade,  placed  at  Florine's  left,  was  flanked  on 
the  right  by  Bixiou,  who  had  received  instructions 
from  Esther  to  thoroughly  intoxicate  the  nabob 
by  constant  challenges  to  drink.  Bixiou  possessed 
the  faculty  of  drinking  indefinitely.  Never  in  his 
whole  life  had  Peyrade  viewed  such  splendor, 
tasted  such  dishes,  nor  seen  such  beautiful  women. 

"To-night,"  thought  he,  "is  worth  the  three 
thousand  francs  which  La  Val  Noble  has  cost  me 
already.  Besides  I  have  just  won  a  thousand." 

"Here  is  an  example  to  follow,  nabob,"  exclaimed 
Madame  du  Val  Noble,  who  was  sitting  beside 
Lucien,  as  she  pointed  out  the  magnificence  of  the 
dining-room  with  a  gesture. 

Esther  had  placed  Lucien  by  her  side,  and  held 
one  of  his  feet  pressed  between  both  of  hers,  beneath 
the  table. 

"Do you  hear?"  demanded  La  Val  Noble,  looking 
at  Peyrade,  who  seemed  blind  to  his  surroundings. 
"This  is  the  manner  in  which  you  should  arrange 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN         383 

a  house  for  me.  When  a  man  returns  from  the 
Indies,  with  millions,  and  wishes  to  do  business 
with  Nucingens,  he  should  rise  to  their  level." 

"I  belong  to  the  society  of  temperance." 

"Then  you  shall  drink  with  a  will!"  said  Bixiou. 
"For  it's  hot  in  the  Indies,  isn't  it,  uncle?" 

Bixiou's  joke  during  the  supper  was  to  treat 
Peyrade  as  one  of  his  uncles  returned  from  the 
Indies. 

"Montame  ti  Fal  Nople  has  tolt  me  zat  you  hat 
blans?"  asked  Nucingen,  examining  Peyrade  with 
attention. 

"This  is  what  I've  been  waiting  for,"  said  Du 
Tillet  to  Rastignac,  "a  chance  to  hear  these  two 
jabberers  together." 

"You  will  see  that  they  will  end  by  understand- 
ing each  other,"  said  Bixiou,  who  guessed  what 
Du  Tillet  would  say  to  Rastignac. 

"Sir  beronette,  I  have  thought  of  a  little  specula- 
tion, Oh,  very  comfortable. — Very  profitable  indeed, 
and  rich  in  its  percentages." 

"Do  listen  to  him,"  said  Blondet  to  Du  Tillet. 
"He  will  not  talk  for  an  instant  without  bringing 
in  Parliament  and  the  English  government" 

"It  is  in  China — opium." 

"Yez,  I  know,"  replied  Nucingen  quickly,  with 
the  air  of  a  man  who  owns  his  commercial  world ; 
"but  ze  Enclish  cofernment  has  daken  gondrol  of  ze 
obium  trate  ant  vould  nod  allow  us." 

"Nucingen  got  ahead  of  him  on  the  mention  of 
the  government,"  said  Du  Tillet  to  Blondet 


384  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

"Ah!  you  have  traded  in  opium?"  exclaimed 
Madame  du  Val  Noble;  "now  I  understand  why 
you  are  so  stupefying;  it  has  stuck  to  your  heart." 

"  Vy !"  exclaimed  the  baron  to  the  supposed  opium- 
merchant,  as  he  pointed  toward  Madame  du  Val 
Noble;  "you  are  like  me;  millionaires  can  nefer 
make  vomen  to  luff  zem." 

"I  love  dearly  and  often,  milady,"  answered 
Peyrade. 

"Always  for  temperance's  sake,"  said  Bixiou, 
who  had  succeeded  in  persuading  Peyrade  to  finish 
his  third  bottle  of  Bordeaux,  and  was  now  inducing 
him  to  broach  a  bottle  of  port  wine. 

"Oh!"  exclaimed  Peyrade,  " it  is  very  fine  Portu- 
guese wine  made  in  England." 

Blondet,  Du  Tillet  and  Bixiou  exchanged  smiles. 
Peyrade  had  the  power  of  disguising  everything 
about  him,  even  his  mind.  There  are  few  English- 
men who  will  not  assure  you  that  gold  and  silver 
are  better  in  England  than  elsewhere.  The  chickens 
and  the  eggs  coming  from  Normandy  and  expressed 
to  the  London  market  enable  Englishmen  to  main- 
tain that  the  London  chickens  and  eggs  are  superior 
—•very  fine — to  those  of  Paris,  which  come  from  pre- 
cisely the  same  districts.  Esther  and  Lucien 
remained  stupefied  before  this  masterpiece  of  cos- 
tume, language  and  audacity. 

The  company  drank  and  ate  so  much  and  so 
heartily  that  amid  stories  and  laughter,  it  came  to 
be  four  o'clock  in  the  morning.  Bixiou  thought  that 
he  had  borne  off  one  of  those  victories  so  pleasantly 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN         385 

described  by  Brillat-Savarin.  But  at  the  moment 
when  he  said  to  himself,  as  he  filled  his  uncle's 
glass:  "I  have  conquered  England,"  Peyrade 
answered  the  brutal  scoffer  with  a  "Never  say  die, 
my  boy,"  in  excellent  French,  which  was  heard  by 
Bixiou  alone. 

"Ho,  there!  you  people!  He's  as  much  English 
as  I  am! — My  uncle  is  a  Gascon!  I  could  never 
have  had  another  kind." 

Bixiou  was  alone  with  Peyrade,  and  so  nobody 
heard  this  revelation.  Peyrade  fell  from  his  chair 
to  the  floor,  whence  he  was  immediately  lifted  by 
Paccard  and  carried  to  an  attic  room,  where  he  was 
laid,  wrapped  in  a  profound  sleep. 

At  six  o'clock  in  the  evening  the  nabob  was 
awakened  by  the  application  of  a  damp  cloth 
rubbing  his  face,  and  found  himself  lying  on 
a  wretched  springless  bed,  face  to  face  with 
Asia,  who  was  masked  and  covered  with  a  black 
domino. 

"Ah!  ha!  Papa  Peyrade,  let's  come  to  terms," 
said  she. 

"Where  am  I?"  said  he,  looking  about  him. 

"Listen  to  me.  It  will  make  you  sober,"  replied 
Asia.  "If  you  don't  love  Madame  du  Val  Noble, 
you  do  love  your  daughter,  don't  you?" 

"My  daughter?"  cried  Peyrade,  reddening. 

"Yes,  Mademoiselle  Lydie." 

"Well?" 

"Well,  she's  no  longer  in  the  Rue  des  Moineaux; 
she  is  kidnapped." 
25 


386  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

Peyrade  sobbed  like  a  soldier  dying  of  mortal 
wounds  on  the  field  of  battle. 

"While  you  were  counterfeiting  the  Englishman, 
somebody  else  was  counterfeiting  Peyrade.  Your 
little  Lydie  supposed  that  she  was  following  her 
father.  She  is  in  a  safe  place.  Oh!  you'll  never 
find  her,  unless  you  make  good  the  harm  you  have 
done." 

"What  harm?" 

"Yesterday  the  door  of  the  Duke  de  Grandlieu  was 
closed  to  M.  Lucien  de  Rubempre.  This  result  is 
due  to  your  intrigues  and  to  the  man  whom  you  set 
upon  our  trail.  Not  a  word.  Listen!"  said  Asia,  as 
Peyrade  opened  his  lips.  "You  shall  never  have 
your  daughter,  pure  and  without  spot,"  she  con- 
tinued, emphasizing  the  ideas  by  the  accent  which 
she  placed  upon  each  syllable,  "until  the  morrow  of 
that  day  on  which  M.  de  Rubempre  comes  forth 
from  Saint  Thomas  Aquinas'  married  to  Mademoi- 
selle Clotilde.  If  within  ten  days  Lucien  de 
Rubempre  is  not  received  on  the  same  footing  as 
formerly,  in  the  Grandlieu  house,  you  shall  die  a 
violent  death,  for  no  precaution  can  ward  off  the 
blow  which  threatens  you.  Then  when  you  feel 
the  touch  of  death  upon  you,  you  shall  have  leisure 
before  you  die  to  ponder  over  this  thought:  'My 
daughter  will  live  impure  for  the  rest  of  her  days!' 
Although  you  have  been  stupid  enough  to  fall  into 
our  clutches,  you  still  have  wit  enough  to  meditate 
upon  this  communication  of  our  government.  Don't 
squeal,  don't  say  a  word.  Go  to  Contenson's 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN         387 

lodging  and  change  your  costume ;  return  home,  and 
Katt  will  tell  you  that,  at  your  bidding,  your  little 
Lydie  went  out  and  has  not  returned.  If  you  make 
a  complaint,  if  you  take  any  steps,  they  will  begin 
by  taking  that  revenge  on  your  daughter  to  which 
I  told  you  they  would  resort;  she  is  promised  to  De 
Marsay.  With  Pere  Canquoelle,  there's  no  need  of 
pretty  speeches  nor  of  gloved  hands,  is  there  ?  Go 
down  stairs  and  think  twice  before  you  meddle  with 
our  business  again." 

Asia  left  Peyrade  in  a  pitiable  state;  every  word 
had  fallen  like  a  blow  frofn  a  hammer.  Two  tears 
were  in  the  detective's  eyes  and  two  wet  streams 
ran  down  his  cheeks. 

"They  are  awaiting  M.  Johnson  for  dinner," 
said  Europe,  showing  her  head  at  the  door  a  moment 
later. 

Peyrade  did  not  answer;  he  walked  down  the 
stairs  and  through  the  streets  until  he  came  to  a  cab 
stand.  He  hastened  to  Contenson's  lodging  and 
undressed  himself,  but  he  did  not  say  a  word  to  his 
friend.  Dressed  once  more  as  Pere  Canquoelle,  he 
reached  his  dwelling  at  eight  o'clock.  He  climbed 
the  stairs  with  a  beating  heart.  When  the  Flemish 
woman  heard  her  master,  she  said  to  him  so 
naturally:  "And  mademoiselle — where  is  she?" 
that  the  old  detective  leaned  against  the  wall  for 
support  The  blow  was  too  great  for  his  strength. 
He  entered  his  daughter's  room  and  fainted  from 
the  violence  of  his  grief  when  he  saw  that  the  room 
was  empty  and  when  Katt  recounted  to  him  the 


388  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

circumstances  of  an  abduction  as  craftily  planned  as 
if  he  himself  had  been  its  author. 

"Now,"  thought  he,  "I  must  yield;  later  I  will 
have  my  revenge.  Now  to  see  Corentin ! — For  the 
first  time  we  have  met  our  match.  Corentin  shall 
leave  the  pretty  boy  free  to  marry  empresses  if  he 
will.  Ah !  I  understand  how  my  daughter  fell  in 
love  with  him  at  first  sight  Oh!  the  Spanish 
priest  was  a  good  judge. — Courage,  Papa  Peyrade. 
Disgorge  your  prey!" 

The  poor  father  did  not  suspect  the  awful  blow  in 
store  for  him. 

When  he  had  reached  Corentin's  house,  Bruno, 
the  confidential  servant,  who  knew  Peyrade  said: 
"Monsieur  is  away." 

"For  long?" 

"For  ten  days." 

"Where?" 

"I  don't  know." 

"My  God,  I  am  going  mad!  I  ask  where?  As  if 
we  were  apt  to  tell  servants,"  thought  he. 


Some  hours  before  the  time  when  Peyrade  was 
awakened  in  his  attic  in  the  Rue  Saint  Georges, 
Corentin,  newly  arrived  from  his  country  place  at 
Passy,  presented  himself  at  the  door  of  the  Duke  de 
Grandlieu  in  the  costume  of  a  valet  belonging  to 
some  aristocratic  family.  In  a  buttonhole  of  his 
black  coat  the  ribbon  of  the  Legion  of  Honor  was 
displayed.  His  appearance  was  that  of  an  old  man, 
with  powdered  hair,  very  wrinkled  and  pale.  His 
eyes  were  covered  by  eyeglasses  with  tortoise-shell 
rims.  In  a  word  he  had  the  air  of  some  ex-chief  of 
the  Police  Department.  When  he  had  given  his 
name,  M.  de  Saint  Denis,  he  was  conducted  into 
the  duke's  study,  where  he  found  Derville  reading 
the  letter  which  he  himself  had  dictated  to  one  of 
his  agents,  a  secretary.  The  duke  took  Corentin 
aside  to  explain  to  him  everything  that  Corentin 
already  knew.  M.  de  Saint  Denis  listened  calmly 
and  respectfully,  and  amused  himself  meanwhile 
studying  the  grand  seigneur,  penetrating  to  the 
bed-rock,  clothed  though  it  was  with  velvet,  and 
bringing  to  light  his  true  life,  then  and  always 
absorbed  in  whist  and  the  consideration  of  the  house 
of  Grandlieu.  Grands  seigneurs  speak  so  unaffect- 
edly to  their  inferiors,  that  Corentin  had  not  asked 
many  questions  of  the  duke  in  his  humble  manner  be- 
fore he  drew  upon  himself  a  torrent  of  impertinence. 
(389) 


390  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

"If  you  will  trust  me,  monsieur,"  said  Corentin 
to  Derville  after  having  been  formally  presented  to 
the  attorney,  "we  leave  to-night  for  Angouleme  by 
the  Bordeaux  diligence,  which  makes  the  journey 
quite  as  quickly  as  the  mail ;  we  shall  not  need  to 
delay  there  more  than  six  hours  in  order  to  obtain 
the  information  that  his  lordship  wishes.  If  I  have 
rightly  understood  your  lordship,  will  it  not  suffice 
to  ascertain  whether  the  sister  and  brother-in-law 
of  M.  de  Rubempre  have  been  able  to  give  him 
twelve  hundred  thousand  francs?"  said  he,  address- 
ing the  duke. 

"You  have  understood  perfectly,"  replied  the 
peer  of  France. 

"We  can  be  here  again  in  four  days,"  continued 
Corentin,  looking  at  Derville,  "and  neither  of  us 
will  be  obliged  to  leave  his  business  long  enough 
to  give  rise  to  any  inconvenience." 

"That  was  the  sole  objection  I  had  to  make  to  his 
lordship,"  said  Derville.  "It  is  four  o'clock;  I 
return  to  say  a  word  to  my  head  clerk,  to  pack  my 
valise,  and  after  dinner,  at  eight  o'clock  I  shall  be — 
But  can  we  secure  places?"  asked  he  of  M.  de  Saint 
Denis,  interrupting  himself. 

"I  will  answer  for  them,"  said  Corentin;  "at 
eight  o'clock  be  in  the  waiting-room  of  the  Principal 
Department  If  there  are  no  places,  I  shall  have 
some  made,  for  this  is  the  manner  in  which  his  lord- 
ship the  Duke  de  Grandlieu  must  be  served." 

"Gentlemen,"  said  the  duke  with  infinite  grace, 
"as  yet  I  do  not  thank  you. — " 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN          391 

Corentin  and  the  attorney,  who  took  this  phrase  as 
a  permission  to  depart,  bowed  and  went  out  At 
the  moment  when  Peyrade  was  questioning  Coren- 
tin's  servant,  M.  de  Saint  Denis  and  Derville,  seated 
within  the  coupe  of  the  Bordeaux  diligence,  looked 
about  them  in  silence  as  they  passed  the  outskirts 
of  Paris.  The  next  morning,  on  the  way  from 
Orleans  to  Tours,  Derville,  who  was  greatly  bored, 
became  talkative  and  Corentin  deigned  to  amuse 
him,  although  with  some  reserve,  and  allowed  the 
lawyer  to  suppose  that  he  belonged  to  diplomatic 
circles  and  that  he  was  expecting  to  become  Consul- 
General  under  the  protection  of  the  Duke  de  Grand- 
lieu. 

Two  days  after  their  departure  from  Paris,  Coren- 
tin and  Derville  stopped  at  Mansle,  to  the  great 
astonishment  of  the  attorney,  who  supposed  that  he 
was  on  his  way  to  Angoule'me. 

"In  this  little  town,"  said  Corentin  to  Derville, 
"we  shall  meet  with  trustworthy  information  con- 
cerning Madame  Sechard." 

"You  know  her  then?"  asked  Derville,  surprised 
to  find  Corentin  so  well  informed. 

' '  I  loosened  the  driver's  tongue  when  I  learned  that 
he  was  from  Angoule'me.  He  told  me  that  madame 
lives  at  Marsac,  and  Marsac  is  but  a  league  away 
from  Mansle ;  I  thought  that  we  should  be  better 
situated  here  than  in  Angoule'me,  to  learn  the  truth." 

"Moreover,"  thought  Derville,  "as  his  lordship 
told  me,  I  am  simply  the  witness  of  investigations 
made  by  this  confidential  agent." 


392  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

The  landlord  of  the  inn  of  Mansle,  called  "La 
Belle  £toile,"  was  one  of  those  big,  bloated  men 
whom  a  stranger  expects  never  to  see  again,  yet 
who  still  stand  on  their  door-steps  ten  years  later, 
with  the  same  quantity  of  flesh,  the  same  cotton 
cap,  the  same  apron,  the  same  knife,  the  same  greasy 
locks,  the  same  triple  chin,  and  who  are  stereotyped 
in  the  books  of  all  romancers  from  the  immortal 
Cervantes  to  the  immortal  Walter  Scott.  Do  they 
not  all  boast  of  their  kitchen's  excellence,  are  they 
not  ready  to  do  everything  to  serve  you,  and  do  they 
not  give  you  at  length  a  bony  chicken  and  vege- 
tables cooked  in  rancid  butter?  They  all  praise 
their  delectable  wines  and  force  you  to  swallow  the 
vintage  of  the  neighborhood.  Since  his  early  youth 
Corentin  had  learned  to  draw  from  an  innkeeper 
things  more  substantial  than  doubtful  dishes  and 
apocryphal  wines.  Thus  he  pretended  to  be  easily 
satisfied  and  told  his  fat  host  that  he  relied  entirely 
upon  the  discretion  of  the  best  cook  in  Mansle. 

"I  have  no  trouble  in  being  the  best,  for  there 
is  no  other,"  replied  the  landlord. 

"Give  us  our  dinner  in  a  private  room,"  said 
Corentin,  winking  at  Derville,  "and  above  all  don't 
forget  to  light  a  fire ;  it  takes  the  stiffness  out  of  a 
man's  fingers." 

"It  was  none  too  hot  in  the  coupe,"  said  Derville. 

"Is  it  far  from  here  to  Marsac?"  asked  Corentin 
of  the  innkeeper's  wife,  who  had  descended  from 
the  upper  regions  upon  hearing  that  the  diligence 
had  set  down  travelers  before  her  door. 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN          393 

"Are  you  going  to  Marsac,  sir?"  demanded  the 
hostess. 

"I  don't  know,"  replied  he,  somewhat  dryly.  "Is 
the  distance  from  here  to  Marsac  great?"  he  asked 
once  more  after  he  had  given  his  hostess  time  to 
observe  his  red  ribbon. 

"If  you  drive,  it's  a  matter  of  half  an  hour  at  the 
most,"  replied  the  landlady. 

"Do  you  think  that  M.  and  Madame  Sechard  are 
there  in  winter?" 

"Doubtless.     They  stay  there  the  year  round." 

"It  is  five  o'clock;  we  shall  find  them  still  up  at 
nine?" 

"Oh!  until  ten;  they  have  company  every  even- 
ing— the  cure,  M.  Marron  the  doctor — " 

"They  are  excellent  people?"  said  Derville. 

"Oh!  monsieur,  nobody  better!"  replied  the 
landlady;  "honest,  upright  people,  and  not  ambi- 
tious; why,  though  M.  Sechard  is  comfortably  off, 
he  would  have  had  millions,  people  say,  if  he  had 
not  allowed  himself  to  be  cheated  out  of  an  inven- 
tion which  he  discovered  in  the  manufacture  of 
paper,  and  which  has  filled  the  pockets  of  the 
Cointet  brothers." 

"Ah!  yes!  the  Cointet  brothers,"  said  Corentin. 

"Hush,"  said  the  innkeeper,  "what  do  these 
gentlemen  care  whether  M.  Sechard  has  or  has  not 
the  right  to  the  patent  of  an  invention  for  making 
paper?  These  gentlemen  are  not  stationers. — If 
you  intend  to  pass  the  night  at  my  house, — the  Belle 
£toile" — continued  the  host,  turning  toward  the 


394  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

two  travelers,  "here  is  the  book;  I  beg  of  you  to 
register  your  names.  We  have  a  brigadier  of  police 
who  has  nothing  to  do  and  who  spends  his  time  in 
meddling  with  our  business — " 

"The  devil !  I  supposed  that  the  Sechards  were 
very  rich,"  said  Corentin,  while  Derville  wrote  his 
name  and  his  profession  as  lawyer  at  the  Tribunal  of 
First  Instance  of  the  Seine. 

"There  are  people,"  replied  the  landlord,  "who 
say  that  they  are  millionaires,  but  you  might  as 
well  try  to  keep  a  river  from  flowing  as  to  keep 
tongues  from  wagging.  M.  Sechard  has  put  two 
hundred  thousand  francs  aside  for  a  rainy  day,  as 
they  say,  and  that's  a  large  sum  for  a  man  who 
began  life  as  a  common  workman.  His  savings  have 
perhaps  amounted  to  as  much,  for  he  has  succeeded 
in  drawing  from  ten  to  twelve  thousand  francs  from 
his  estate.  This  is  on  the  supposition  that,  for  ten 
years,  he  has  been  too  stupid  to  put  out  his  money  at 
interest!  But  call  it  three  hundred  thousand  francs, 
if  he  has  exacted  usury,  as  people  suspect,  and  you 
have  it  all.  Five  hundred  thousand  francs  is  a  long 
way  from  a  million.  If  my  fortune  were  only  the 
difference  I  should  not  be  at  the  Belle  fitoile. " 

"What,"  said  Corentin,  "have  not  M.  David 
Sechard  and  his  wife  property  amounting  to  two 
or  three  millions  of  francs?" 

"But,"  exclaimed  the  innkeeper's  wife,  "that's 
what  they  ascribe  to  the  MM.  Cointet  who  robbed 
him  of  his  invention,  and  never  gave  him  more  than 
twenty  thousand  francs. — Where  do  you  suppose 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN         395 

honest  people  like  them  could  have  picked  up  mill- 
ions? They  were  in  great  embarrassment  during 
their  father's  life.  Without  Kolb, their  administrator, 
and  Madame  Kolb,  who  is  as  devoted  to  their  inter- 
ests as  her  husband  is,  they  would  have  had  scarcely 
enough  to  live  upon.  What  did  they  have  then, 
including  La  Verberie  ?  a  thousand  crowns  a  year !" 

Corentin  took  Derville  aside  and  said  to  him :  *7» 
vino  -veritas  I  Truth  lies  beneath  the  corks.  For  my 
own  part,  I  regard  an  inn  as  the  official  register  of  a 
district ;  the  notary  is  not  a  whit  better  informed  than 
the  tavern  keeper  of  what  is  going  on  in  a  small 
community.  You  see,  we  are  supposed  to  know  Coin- 
tet,  Kolb,  etc.  An  innkeeper  is  the  living  catalogue 
of  everything  that  takes  place;  he  acts  as  the  police 
without  suspecting  it.  A  government  should  support 
two  hundred  spies  at  the  most  For  in  a  country  like 
France  there  are  ten  millions  of  honest  detectives. 
But  we  are  not  obliged  to  rely  upon  this  report, 
although  in  this  little  town,  people  would  be  apt  to 
know  something  of  the  twelve  hundred  thousand 
francs  that  have  disappeared  to  pay  for  the  Rubem- 
pre  estate. — We  shall  not  stay  here  long." 

"I  hope  not,"  said  Derville. 

"This  is  the  reason  why,"  continued  Corentin. 
"I  have  discovered  the  most  natural  method  in  the 
world  to  make  Sechard  and  his  wife  tell  the  truth. 
I  count  upon  you  to  support,  with  your  legal  author- 
ity, the  little  ruse  which  I  shall  make  use  of  to 
enable  you  to  hear  a  clear  and  concise  statement  of 
their  fortune. — After  dinner  we  shall  leave  you  to 


396  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

pay  a  visit  to  M.  Sechard,"  said  Corentin,  turning 
to  the  landlady,  "you  will  makesureto  get  our  beds 
ready;  we  wish  to  have  two  apartments.  There 
must  be  room  at  the  'Belle  Etoile.'  " 

"Oh!  monsieur,"  said  the  woman,  "we  have 
found  the  ensign." 

"Oh!  puns  are  used  in  all  the  departments," 
said  Corentin,  "you  have  no  monopoly  on  them." 

"Your  dinner  is  ready,  messieurs,"  said  the 
landlord. 

"Where  the  devil  could  this  young  man  have 
found  his  money?  Was  the  anonymous  letter 
right?  Was  it  the  money  of  some  pretty  woman  ?" 
said  Dervilleto  Corentin  as  they  sat  down  to  dinner. 

"Ah!  that  would  be  the  subject  of  another  in- 
quiry," said  Corentin.  "Lucien  de  Rubempre 
lives,  so  the  Duke  de  Chaulieu  told  me,  with  a 
converted  Jewess,  who  passes  herself  off  for  a  Dutch 
woman,  named  Esther  van  Bogseck." 

"What  an  odd  coincidence!"  exclaimed  the  law- 
yer;"! am  investigating  the  inheritance  of  a  Dutch- 
man named  Gobseck;  it's  the  same  name  with  a 
change  of  consonants. ' ' 

"Ah!"  remarked  Corentin,  "I  shall  give  you 
information  concerning  their  affiliation  upon  my 
return  to  Paris." 

An  hour  later  these  two  agents  of  the  noble  house 
of  Grandlieu  started  for  La  Verberie,  the  house  of 
M.  and  Madame  Sechard.  Never  had  Lucien  felt 
emotions  so  stirring  as  those  which  came  over  him 
at  La  Verberie,  as  he  compared  his  own  destiny 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN         397 

with  that  of  his  brother-in-law.  The  two  Parisians 
were  destined  to  find  the  same  spectacle  which,  but 
a  few  days  before,  had  struck  Lucien's  imagination. 
Everything  breathed  calm  and  plenty.  At  the  time 
when  the  two  strangers  were  about  to  arrive,  the 
drawing-room  of  La  Verberie  was  occupied  by  a 
company  of  four  persons:  the  cure  of  Marsac,  a 
young  priest  of  twenty-five,  who  had  become,  at 
Madame  Sechard's  request,  the  instructor  of  her  son 
Lucien;  the  village  doctor,  M.  Marron  byname;  the 
mayor  of  the  commune,  and  an  old  colonel  retired 
from  the  service,  who  cultivated  roses  on  a  small 
estate  across  the  street  from  La  Verberie.  Every 
winter  evening  this  company  assembled  to  play  an 
innocent  game  of  cards  at  one  centime  a  point,  to 
borrow  newspapers  or  to  return  those  which  they 
had  read. 

When  M.  and  Madame  Sechard  bought  La  Ver- 
berie, a  handsome  house  built  of  sandstone  and 
covered  with  tiles,  its  dependencies  proper  con- 
sisted of  a  garden  of  two  acres.  As  time  went  on, 
consecrating  her  economies  to  this  single  purpose, 
Madame  Sechard  had  extended  her  garden  as  far  as 
a  small  watercourse,  and  sacrificing  the  vineyards 
which  she  purchased,  she  converted  them  into  lawns 
varied  by  clumps  of  trees.  At  the  time  of  this 
story,  La  Verberie,  surrounded  by  a  park  of  some 
twenty  acres,  passed  for  the  most  important  estate 
in  the  neighborhood.  The  house  of  the  late  M. 
Sechard  and  its  dependencies  furnished  for  cultiva- 
tion rather  more  than  twenty  acres  of  vines, 


398  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

bequeathed  by  him  to  his  son,  beside  five  farms 
yielding  an  annual  revenue  of  some  six  thousand 
francs,  and  ten  acres  of  meadow  land  situated  on 
the  other  side  of  the  watercourse,  directly  opposite 
the  park  of  La  Verberie,  and  Madame  Sechard 
counted  upon  adding  to  them  the  following  year. 
Already  throughout  the  neighborhood  people  digni- 
fied La  Verberie  by  the  title  of  chateau  and  called 
Eve  Sechard  the  Lady  of  Marsac.  In  satisfying  his 
vanity,  Lucien  had  only  imitated  the  peasants  and 
workers  in  the  vineyards.  Courtois,  the  proprietor 
of  a  picturesque  mill  a  few  gunshots  away  from  the 
fields  of  La  Verberie,  was,  people  said,  negotiating 
for  its  sale  to  Madame  Sechard.  This  probable 
acquisition  would  give  La  Verberie  the  proportions 
of  an  estate  of  the  first  rank  in  the  department 
Madame  Sechard,  who  gave  much  to  charity  with  as 
much  discernment  as  generosity,  was  esteemed  as 
well  as  beloved.  Her  beauty,  become  magnificent, 
had  reached  the  height  of  its  development  Although 
nearly  twenty-six  years  old,  she  had  retained  the 
freshness  of  youth,  thanks  to  the  repose  and  abun- 
dance that  life  in  the  country  bestows.  She  was  a 
loving  wife  and  respected  in  her  husband  a  man 
whose  modest  talents  suffered  him  to  renounce  the 
turmoil  of  a  life  of  glory;  in  short  to  describe  her  it 
is  perhaps  enough  to  say  that  in  all  her  life  she  had 
never  felt  a  single  heart-beat  that  was  not  inspired 
by  her  children  or  by  her  husband.  The  tribute 
which  this  household  paid  misfortune  was,  as  may 
be  imagined,  the  deep  sorrow  caused  by  Lucien,  in 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN         399 

whose  life  Eve  Sechardfelt  that  there  were  myster- 
ies and  dreaded  them  all  the  more  because  during 
his  last  visit  Lucien  brusquely  cut  short  every 
question  of  his  sister  by  telling  her  that  ambitious 
men  owed  account  of  their  actions  to  them- 
selves alone.  In  six  years  Lucien  had  seen  his 
sister  thrice  and  he  had  not  written  her  more 
than  six  letters.  His  first  visit  to  La  Verberie 
had  taken  place  after  the  death  of  his  mother, 
and  his  last  had  for  its  object  the  demand  of 
the  falsehood  so  necessary  to  his  career.  This 
had  occasioned  between  M.  and  Madame  Sechard 
and  their  brother  a  serious  scene,  which  left 
hideous  doubts  in  the  heart  of  this  sweet  and 
noble  life. 

The  interior  of  the  house,  transformed  as  com- 
pletely as  the  exterior,  was  comfortable  without 
any  appearance  of  luxury.  The  reader  can  judge  of 
this  by  a  rapid  glance  about  the  room  in  which  the 
company  were  gathered  at  this  moment.  A  pretty 
carpet  from  Aubusson,  twill  hangings  of  gray  cotton 
with  green  silk  trimmings,  paintings  representing 
the  forest  of  Spa,  a  table  of  carved  mahogany,  cov- 
ered with  gray  cashmere  and  green  embroidery. 
Flower  pots  filled  with  flowers,  in  spite  of  the  sea- 
son, offered  a  picture  very  pleasing  to  the  eye. 
The  green  curtains,  the  ornaments  on  the  mantel- 
piece, the  frames  of  the  mirrors,  were  free  from  that 
bad  taste  which  spoils  everything  provincial;  in 
short,  all  things,  fitting  and  neat  to  the  smallest 
details,  gave  repose  to  the  soul  and  the  eye  by  that 


400  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

poetry  which  a    loving  and    intelligent  wife  can 
introduce  into  her  household. 

Madame  Sechard,  still  in  mourning  for  her  father, 
was  sitting  near  the  fireplace,  working  over  a  piece 
of  embroidery,  aided  by  Madame  Kolb,  the  house- 
keeper, to  whose  care  she  intrusted  the  details  of  the 
household.  Just  as  the  carriage  reached  the  out- 
skirts of  Marsac,  the  accustomed  company  of  La 
Verberie  was  increased  by  the  arrival  of  Courtois, 
the  miller,  a  widower,  who  wished  to  retire  from 
business  and  was  anxious  to  sell  his  property  at  a 
round  price.  Madame  Eve  seemed  desirous  to  buy 
it,  and  Courtois  knew  the  reason  why. 

"A  carriage  is  stopping  here!"  said  Courtois,  hear- 
ing the  rumbling  of  wheels  at  the  door,  "and  to 
judge  from  the  rattling  it  comes  from  the  neighbor- 
hood."— 

"It  must  be  Postel  and  his  wife  on  their  way  to 
see  us,"  said  the  doctor. 

"No,"  said  Courtois,  "the  carriage  comes  from 
the  direction  of  Mansle. " 

"Montame,"  said  Kolb,  a  large  and  stout  Alsatian, 
whom  we  know — see  Lost  Illusions — "here  ees  ein 
zolicetor  vrom  Baris  who  veshes  do  speak  do 
mennesir." 

"A  solicitor?"  cried  Sechard.  "The  very  name 
gives  me  the  colic." 

"Thanks,"  said  the  mayor  of  Marsac,  Cachan  by 
name,  who  for  twenty  years  had  been  a  lawyer  in 
Angoule'me,  who  had  once  been  employed  in  prose- 
cuting Sechard. 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN        401 

"My  poor  David  will  never  change,  he  will  always 
be  absent-minded,"  said  Eve,  smiling. 

"A  solicitor  from  Paris,"  said  Courtois;  "then 
you  have  business  in  Paris?" 

"No,"  said  Eve. 

"You  have  a  brother  there,"  remarked  Courtois. 

"Take  care  lest  it  be  about  old  M.  Sechard's  prop- 
erty," said  Cachan.  "The  old  gentleman  always 
did  business  in  an  odd  fashion!" 

Corentin  and  Derville  entered,  and  after  bowing 
to  the  company  and  repeating  the  names  of  the  differ- 
ent guests,  they  requested  a  private  conversation 
with  Madame  Sechard  and  her  husband. 

"Certainly,"  said  Sechard.  "But  is  it  on  busi- 
ness ?' ' 

"Only  in  regard  to  your  father's  property," 
replied  Corentin. 

"Then  kindly  allow  the  mayor,  who  is  an  old 
attorney  of  Angoul£me,  to  be  present  at  the  confer- 
ence." 

"You  are  M.  Derville?"  asked  Cachan,  looking 
at  Corentin. 

"No,  monsieur,  that  is  he,"  replied  Corentin, 
pointing  to  the  attorney,  who  bowed. 

"But,"  said  Sechard,  "we  are  quite  private  here, 
we  have  no  secrets  from  our  neighbors.  There  is 
no  need  of  adjourning  to  my  study,  where  there  is  no 
fire.  Our  life  is  perfectly  open." — 

"But  your  father's,"  said  Corentin,  "has  har- 
bored some  mysteries,  which  perhaps  you  would 
not  care  to  make  public." 
26 


402  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

"Is  it,  then,  anything  to  be  ashamed  of?"  asked 
Eve,  alarmed. 

"Oh,  no!  It  is  a  youthful  peccadillo,"  said 
Corentin,  setting  one  of  his  thousand  professional 
snares  with  the  utmost  coolness.  "Your  father  gave 
you  an  elder  brother." — 

"Ah!  the  old  fox!"  cried  Courtois;  "he  loved  you 
little  enough,  Monsieur  Sechard,  and  yet  he  never 
let  you  know  it,  sly  old  dog !  Ah !  now  I  understand 
what  he  meant  when  he  said :  '  You  will  see  strange 
things  when  I  am  dead  and  buried.'  " 

"Oh!  Don't  be  alarmed,  sir,"  said  Corentin  to 
Sechard,  examining  Eve  with  a  sidelong  glance. 

"A  brother!"  exclaimed  the  doctor.  "That  cuts 
your  inheritance  in  two." 

Derville  made  a  pretence  of  looking  at  the  hand- 
some before-letter  proof  engravings  which  were 
hung  upon  the  panels  of  the  drawing-room. 

"Don't  be  alarmed,  madame,"  repeated  Coren- 
tin, seeing  the  surprise  which  appeared  upon  Madame 
Sechard' s  beautiful  face.  "This  was  merely  a 
natural  son.  The  title  of  a  natural  child  is  not  that 
of  a  legitimate  son.  This  child  is  in  terrible  poverty ; 
he  has  a  right  to  a  sum  based  upon  the  size  of  the 
inheritance — the  millions  left  by  your  father." — 

At  this  word  millions,  there  was  an  exclamation 
of  the  most  complete  unanimity  throughout  the  room. 
At  this  juncture  Derville  ceased  to  examine  the 
engravings. 

"Old  Sechard,  millions?"  said  the  fat  Courtois. 
"Who  told  you  that — some  peasant?" 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN        403 

"Sir,"  said  Cachan,  "you  do  not  belong  to  the 
Treasury,  therefore  you  could  not  have  been  told 
how—" 

"You  need  not  be  afraid,"  said  Corentin;  "I  give 
you  my  word  of  honor  that  I  am  not  a  real  estate 
agent" 

Cachan,  who  had  just  motioned  to  everybody  to 
keep  quiet,  made  a  visible  gesture  of  satisfaction. 

"Sir,"  continued  Corentin,  "were  it  but  a  mill- 
ion, the  portion  of  an  illegitimate  child  would  still 
be  considerable.  We  do  not  come  to  bring  suit ;  on 
the  contrary,  we  come  to  make  a  proposal  to  you. 
Give  us  a  hundred  thousand  francs  and  we  leave 
you." 

"A  hundred  thousand  francs,"  cried  Cachan, 
interrupting  Corentin.  "But,  sir,  Sechard  senior 
left  twenty  acres  of  vineyard,  five  small  farms, 
ten  acres  of  pasture  at  Marsac  and  not  a  penny 
with  it." 

"Nothing  in  the  world,"  exclaimed  David  Se"- 
chard,  intervening  between  the  disputants,  "would 
induce  me  to  tell  a  lie,  Monsieur  Cachan,  and  still 
less  were  it  to  favor  my  own  interests.  Monsieur," 
said  he  to  Corentin  and  to  Derville,  "my  father  left 
us,  besides  his  estate" — 

Courtois  and  Cachan  motioned  in  vain  to  Sechard 
to  be  silent. 

He  continued: 

"Three  hundred  thousand  francs,  which  brings 
the  amount  of  his  property  to  about  five  hundred 
thousand  francs. ' ' 


404  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

"Monsieur  Cachan,"  said  Eve  Sechard,  "what 
portion  does  the  law  give  to  a  natural  child?" 

"Madame,"  said  Corentin,  "we  are  not  unreason- 
able ;  we  simply  ask  you  to  give  us  your  word  in  the 
presence  of  these  gentlemen  that  you  have  not 
received  more  than  three  hundred  thousand  francs 
in  cash  from  the  inheritance  of  your  father- 
in-law,  and  we  shall  certainly  come  to  an  under- 
standing." 

"First,  give  your  word  of  honor,"  said  the  old 
attorney  of  Angoule'me  to  Derville,  "that  you  are  a 
lawyer." 

"Here  are  my  credentials,"  said  Derville  to 
Cachan,  handing  him  a  paper  folded  in  legal  form, 
"and  this  gentleman  is  not,  as  you  might  think,  a 
general  inspector  of  real  estate.  You  need  not  be 
disturbed,"  added  Derville.  "It  was  simply  that 
we  had  the  most  powerful  motives  to  learn  the  truth 
concerning  the  Sechard  succession  and  now  we 
know  it" 

Derville  took  Madame  Eve  by  the  hand  and  led 
her  very  courteously  to  the  other  end  of  the  drawing- 
room. 

"Madame,"  said  he  in  a  low  voice,  "if  the  honor 
and  the  future  of  the  house  of  Grandlieu  were  not 
at  stake  in  this  question,  I  should  not  have  lent 
myself  to  the  stratagem  invented  by  this  decorated 
gentleman ;  but  you  will  excuse  it,  it  helps  to  uncover 
the  lie  by  the  aid  of  which  your  brother  has  abused 
the  justice  of  a  noble  family.  Take  good  care  not 
to  spread  the  report  that  you  have  given  vour 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN         405 

brother  twelve  hundred  thousand  francs  to  enable 
him  to  buy  the  estate  of  Rubempre. ' ' — 

"Twelve  hundred  thousand  francs!"  exclaimed 
Madame  Sechard,  growing  pale;  "where  can  my 
unhappy  brother  have  got  them?" 

"Ah!"  said  Derville,  "I  fear  that  the  source  of 
this  fortune  cannot  be  honest." 

The  company  could  see  tears  gather  in  Eve's  eyes. 

"Perhaps  we  have  rendered  him  a  great  service," 
said  Derville,  "in  preventing  him  from  plunging 
deeper  in  a  lie  which  may  prove  dangerous." 

Derville  left  Madame  Sechard  seated,  still  pale 
and  with  the  tears  yet  upon  her  cheeks,  and  bowed 
to  the  company. 

"To  Mansle!"  said  Corentin  to  the  small  boy  who 
drove  the  carriage. 

The  diligence  from  Bordeaux  to  Paris,  which 
passed  Mansle  in  the  night,  had  a  single  empty 
place;  Derville  begged  Corentin  to  allow  him  to 
profit  by  it,  pleading  the  importance  of  his  business, 
for  at  bottom  he  distrusted  his  companion,  whose 
diplomatic  dexterity  and  self-possession  appeared 
to  him  the  results  of  habit  Corentin  remained  for 
three  days  at  Mansle,  unable  to  get  away ;  eventually 
he  was  obliged  to  write  to  Bordeaux  and  to  engage 
a  place  from  there  to  Paris,  which  he  was  unable 
to  reach  until  nine  days  after  his  departure. 


During  this  time,  Peyrade  went  every  morning 
to  Corentin's  house,  both  at  Passy  and  in  Paris,  to 
find  out  whether  he  had  returned.  On  the  eighth 
day  he  left  at  both  houses  a  letter  written  in  a  pri- 
vate cipher,  in  order  to  explain  to  his  friend  the 
nature  of  the  fate  that  hung  over  him,  the  abduction 
of  Lydie,  and  the  hideous  destiny  to  which  his 
enemies  devoted  her.  Attacked,  as  he  had  long 
been  accustomed  to  attack  others,  Peyrade,  deprived 
of  Corentin,  but  assisted  by  Contenson,  still  re- 
mained disguised  as  a  nabob.  Although  his  unseen 
enemies  had  discovered  him,  he  judged  with  wisdom 
that  he  might  gain  some  light  by  standing  his  ground 
on  the  battlefield.  Contenson  had  set  all  his 
acquaintances  upon  Lydie's  trail  and  he  hoped  to 
discover  the  house  in  which  she  was  concealed ;  but 
day  by  day  the  impossibility  of  ascertaining  the 
slightest  information  grew  more  and  more  evident 
and  added  to  Peyrade's  despair.  The  old  detective 
had  himself  surrounded  by  a  guard  of  twelve  or  fif- 
teen of  the  ablest  men  in  the  secret  service.  All  the 
approaches  to  the  Rue  des  Moineaux  and  the  Rue 
Taitbout,  where  the  nabob  was  living  with  Madame 
du  Val  Noble,  were  watched  with  scrupulous  care. 
During  the  last  three  days  of  the  fateful  delay  granted 
by  Asia  to  re-establish  Lucien  on  his  old  footing  with 
the  Grandlieus,  Contenson  did  not  stir  from  the  side 
(407) 


408  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

of  the  veteran  of  the  former  lieutenant-generalcy  of 
police.  Thus  the  poetry  of  terror  which  the  strata- 
gems of  hostile  tribes  spread  throughout  the  heart 
of  the  American  forests,  the  poetry  which  Cooper 
has  used  so  well,  clung  to  the  most  trivial  details 
of  Parisian  life.  The  passers-by,  the  shops,  the 
cabs,  a  person  standing  at  a  window,  all  lent  to  the 
men-numbers,  to  whom  old  Peyrade's  life  was 
intrusted,  the  vast  interest  which,  in  Cooper's 
novels,  is  offered  by  the  trunk  of  a  tree,  a  colony 
of  beavers,  a  rock,  a  bison's  skin,  a  motionless 
canoe  or  leafy  branches  overhanging  the  water. 

"If  the  Spaniard  has  gone,  you  have  nothing  to 
fear,"  said  Contenson  to  Peyrade,  pointing  out  to 
him  the  undisturbed  tranquillity  which  they  en- 
joyed. 

"And  if  he  has  not  gone?"  replied  Peyrade. 

"He  took  one  of  my  men  behind  his  calash;  but, 
at  Blois,  the  agent  was  obliged  to  get  off,  and  could 
not  regain  the  carriage." 

Five  days  after  Derville's  return,  Lucien  received, 
in  the  morning,  a  visit  from  Rastignac. 

"My  dear  boy,"  said  the  dandy,  "it  gives  me 
great  pain  to  fulfill  a  duty  which  has  been  intrusted 
to  me  on  account  of  our  intimacy.  Your  hopes  of 
marriage  are  at  an  end  and  they  can  never  again 
be  renewed.  You  can  nevermore  set  foot  within 
the  Grandlieu  threshold.  To  marry  Clotilde,  you 
must  wait  for  her  father's  death,  and  her  father  has 
become  too  much  of  an  egoist  to  die  soon.  Old 
whist  players  remain  long  upon  the  very  brink — of 


HOW  MUCH   LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN         409 

a  card  table.  Clotilde  is  going  to  Italy  with  Made- 
leine de  Lenoncourt-Chaulieu.  The  poor  girl  loves 
you  so  deeply,  my  boy,  that  the  family  have  been 
obliged  to  have  her  watched ;  she  wished  to  come  and 
see  you,  she  had  even  made  her  little  plan  of  escape. 
That  must  be  a  consolation  in  your  sorrow." 

Lucien  did  not  answer ;  he  looked  at  Rastignac. 

"After  all,  is  it  a  misfortune?"  continued  his 
compatriot;  "you  will  easily  find  another  girl  as 
noble  and  more  fair  than  Clotilde.  Madame  de 
Serizy  will  arrange  a  marriage  for  you  out  of 
revenge ;  she  cannot  abide  the  Grandlieus,  who  have 
never  consented  to  receive  her;  she  has  a  niece, 
little  Clemence  de  Rouvre. " 

"My  dear  Rastignac,"  replied  Lucien  at  length, 
"since  our  last  supper,  I  have  not  been  on  good  terms 
with  Madame  de  Serizy;  she  saw  me  in  Esther's 
box,  a  scene  followed,  and  since  then  I  have  left  her 
to  go  her  own  way." 

"A  woman  of  forty  odd  does  not  quarrel  for  long 
with  a  young  man  as  handsome  as  you  are,"  said 
Rastignac.  "I  know  something  about  these  setting 
suns;  they  last  for  ten  minutes  on  the  horizon  and 
for  ten  years  in  a  woman's  heart" 

"For  a  week  I  have  been  waiting  for  a  letter 
from  her." 

"Go  there!" 

"It  would  be  wise." 

"At  least  come  to  see  La  Val  Noble.  Her  nabob  is 
returning  to  Nucingenthe  supper  which  he  received 
of  him." 


410  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

"I  am  invited  and  I  shall  go,"  said  Lucien  seri- 
ously. 

On  the  evening  following  the  confirmation  of  his 
misfortune,  of  which  intelligence  had  been  immedi- 
ately given  by  Asia  to  Carlos,  Lucien,  with  Ras- 
tignac  and  Nucingen,  made  their  appearance  at  the 
house  of  the  false  nabob. 

At  midnight,  Esther's  former  dining-room  united 
almost  all  the  actors  of  this  drama,  yet  its  deep  inter- 
ests, which  lay  beneath  all  these  tempestuous  exist- 
ences, were  known  only  to  Esther,  Lucien,  Peyrade, 
the  mulatto  Contenson,  and  to  Paccard,  who  had 
come  to  serve  his  mistress.  Unknown  to  Peyrade 
and  to  Contenson,  Asia  had  been  requested  by 
Madame  du  Val  Noble  to  come  to  her  cook's  assist- 
ance. As  he  sat  down  at  table  Peyrade,  who  had 
given  five  hundred  francs  to  Madame  du  Val  Noble 
to  furnish  a  handsome  supper,  found  within  his 
napkin  a  scrap  of  paper  on  which  he  read  these 
words  written  in  pencil :  The  ten  days  expire  the 
instant  that  you  sit  down  at  table.  Peyrade  handed 
the  paper  to  Contenson,  who  stood  behind  him,  say- 
ing to  him  in  English:  "Did  you  tuck  my  name 
there?" 

Contenson  read  this  Mene,  Tekel,  Phares  by  the 
light  of  the  candles  and  put  the  paper  into  his 
pocket;  but  he  knew  well  how  difficult  it  is  to  verify 
writing  in  pencil  and  especially  a  sentence  written 
in  capital  letters,  that  is  to  say  with  lines  mathe- 
matically arranged,  since  the  capital  letters  are 
composed  entirely  of  curves  and  straight  lines,  in 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN         411 

which  it  is  impossible  to  recognize  the  habits  of  the 
hand,  as  in  the  handwriting  known  as  "running." 

The  supper  was  without  gaiety.  Peyrade  was  a 
prey  to  visible  preoccupation.  Of  the  young  high 
livers,  accustomed  to  enliven  a  supper,  Lucien  and 
Rastignac  alone  were  present  Lucien  was  very 
sad  and  dreamy,  while  Rastignac,  who  had  lost  two 
thousand  francs  before  supper,  drank  and  ate  with 
the  sole  idea  of  making  them  good  after  supper. 
The  three  women,  struck  with  this  cheerlessness, 
looked  at  one  another.  Melancholy  despoiled  every 
dish  of  its  savor.  Like  plays  and  books,  suppers 
must  take  their  chances. 

At  the  end  of  supper,  the  guests  were  served  with 
ices  called  plombtires.  As  everybody  knows,  this 
kind  of  ice  contains  tiny  comfits  of  fruit  placed  upon 
its  surface,  and  is  served  in  small  glasses  without 
any  pretence  to  pyramidal  form.  These  ices  had  been 
ordered  by  Madame  du  Val  Noble  of  Tortoni,  whose 
celebrated  establishment  is  at  the  corner  of  the  Rue 
Taitbout  and  the  Boulevard.  The  cook  had  the 
mulatto  called  to  pay  the  caterer's  bill.  Contenson, 
to  whom  the  boy's  importunity  seemed  unnatural, 
went  down-stairs  and  silenced  him  with  these  words : 

"You  don't  come  from  Tortoni?" 

Then  he  returned  to  the  dining-room  instantly. 

But  Paccard  had  already  profited  by  this  absence 
to  serve  the  ices  to  the  guests.  Scarcely  had  the 
mulatto  reached  the  door  of  the  apartment  when 
one  of  the  agents  who  were  guarding  the  Rue  des 
Moineaux  called  from  below: 


412  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

"Number  twenty-seven." 

"What  is  it?"  answered  Contenson,  hurrying 
down  the  flight  of  stairs. 

"Tell  papa  that  his  daughter  has  returned,  but  in 
such  a  state !  My  God !  Tell  him  to  hurry ;  she  is 
dying." 

Just  as  Contenson  re-entered  the  dining-room, 
old  Peyrade,  who  had  drunk  deeply,  was  swallowing 
the  little  cherry  of  his  plombttre.  Madame  du  Val 
Noble's  health  was  being  toasted;  the  nabob  filled 
his  glass  with  "wine  of  Constance,"  and  emptied 
it.  Troubled  as  Contenson  was  by  the  news  which 
he  was  about  to  deliver  to  Peyrade,  he  was  struck, 
as  he  entered,  by  the  rapt  attention  with  which 
Paccard  gazed  at  the  nabob.  The  two  eyes  of 
Madame  de  Champy's  valet  looked  like  two  fixed 
flames.  This  observation,  in  spite  of  its  impor- 
tance, was  not  enough  to  delay  the  mulatto,  and  he 
bent  over  his  master  at  the  moment  when  Peyrade 
replaced  his  empty  glass  upon  the  table. 

"Lydie  is  at  home,"  said  Contenson,  "but  in  a 
sad  condition." 

Peyrade  gave  vent  to  the  Frenchest  of  French 
oaths  in  a  southern  accent  so  pronounced  that  deep 
amazement  appeared  on  the  faces  of  the  company. 
Perceiving  his  error,  Peyrade  threw  off  the  mask, 
by  saying  to  Contenson  in  good  French: 

"Call  a  cab!    I  come  instantly." 

Everybody  rose  from  the  table. 

"Who  then  are  you  ?"  cried  Lucien. 

"Yez!"  said  the  baron. 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN         413 

"Bixiou  told  me  that  you  could  play  the  English- 
man better  than  he,  and  I  wouldn't  believe  him," 
said  Rastignac. 

"It  is  some  discovered  bankrupt,"  said  Du  Tillet 
aloud.  "I  suspected  as  much!" 

"What  a  singular  place  Paris  is,"  said  Madame 
du  Val  Noble;  "after  having  failed  in  his  quarter  of 
the  city,  a  merchant  reappears  as  a  nabob  or  a  dandy 
in  the  Champs  Elysees  without  the  slightest  hesita- 
tion. Oh!  I  was  born  under  an  evil  star;  failure 
follows  me  like  a  gad-fly." 

"They  say  that  every  flower  has  its  own,"  said 
Esther  quietly;  "mine,  like  Cleopatra's,  is  an  asp." 

"Who  am  I?"  said  Peyrade,  at  the  door.  "Ah! 
you  shall  know,  for  if  I  die  I  shall  come  out  of  my 
grave  nightly  to  clutch  your  feet" 

As  he  said  these  last  words,  he  looked  at  Esther 
and  at  Lucien ;  then,  profiting  by  the  general  aston- 
ishment, he  disappeared  with  extraordinary  dexter- 
ity,-for  he  wished  to  rush  to  his  house  without 
waiting  for  a  cab.  In  the  street,  Asia,  enveloped 
in  a  black  cloak,  with  a  hood  such  as  women  wore 
to  balls  at  that  time,  touched  the  detective's  arm  on 
the  steps  of  the  porte  cochere. 

"Send  for  the  sacraments,  Papa  Peyrade,"  she 
said  to  him,  in  the  same  voice  which  had  already 
prophesied  misfortune.  A  carriage  stood  by,  Asia 
stepped  into  it  and  the  carriage  disappeared  as  if  it 
were  borne  away  by  the  wind.  There  were  five 
carriages  about  the  door ;  Peyrade's  men  could  dis- 
cover nothing. 


414  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

On  arriving  at  his  country  house,  situated  in  one 
of  the  most  retired  and  smiling  spots  of  the  little 
town  of  Passy,  the  Rue  de  Vignes,  Corentin,  who 
passed  for  a  tradesman  with  a  hobby  for  gardening, 
found  the  cipher  of  his  friend  Peyrade.  Without 
wasting  an  instant  he  stepped  into  the  cab  which 
had  brought  him,  drove  directly  to  the  Rue  des 
Moineaux  and  found  Katt  alone.  He  learned 
from  the  Flemish  woman  the  story  of  Lydie's 
disappearance,  and  pondered  in  amazement  over 
the  lack  of  foresight  which  Peyrade  and  he  had 
displayed. 

"They  don't  know  me  yet,"  he  said  to  himself. 
"Those  people  are  capable  of  anything ;  I  must  learn 
whether  they  kill  Peyrade,  for  if  they  do  I  shall  not 
show  myself." 

The  more  infamous  a  man's  life  is,  the  more 
tightly  he  clings  to  it;  it  becomes  a  protestation,  a 
revenge  never  forgotten  for  an  instant  Corentin 
descended  the  stairs  and  hurrying  to  his  house  dis- 
guised himself  as  a  little  poverty-stricken  old  man, 
with  a  little  straggling  beard,  wrapped  in  a  little 
coat,  worn  to  a  greenish  hue,  and  returned  afoot, 
spurred  on  by  his  friendship  for  Peyrade.  He 
wished  to  give  orders  to  his  most  reliable  and  effi- 
cient Numbers.  As  he  made  his  way  along  the  Rue 
Saint  Honore,  from  the  Place  Vendome  to  the  Rue 
Saint  Roch,  he  walked  behind  a  girl  dressed  as  if 
for  the  night,  with  her  feet  encased  in  slippers. 
This  girl,  wrapped  in  a  white  night-dress,  with  a 
night-cap  on  her  head,  sobbed  as  she  walked,and 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN        415 

groaned  involuntarily;  Corentin  made  a  few  steps 
past  her  and  recognized  Lydie. 

"I  am  the  friend  of  your  father,  M.  Canquoelle," 
said  he  in  his  natural  voice. 

"Ah!  then  there  is  some  one  in  whom  I  can 
trust!"  said  she. 

"Pretend  that  you  don't  know  me,"  continued 
Corentin,  "for  we  are  pursued  by  cruel  enemies 
and  forced  to  disguise  ourselves.  But  tell  me  what 
has  happened." 

"Oh!  sir,"  said  the  poor  girl,  "my  story  tells 
itself,  but  I  may  not  tell  it — I  am  dishonored,  lost, 
though  I  cannot  explain  how." 

"Where  do  you  come  from?" 

"I  don't  know,  sir ;  I  ran  away  so  hurriedly,  I  have 
passed  through  so  many  streets  and  turned  so  many 
corners,  thinking  that  I  was  followed.  And  when 
I  met  an  honest  man  I  asked  my  way  to  the  Boule- 
vards in  order  to  get  to  the  Rue  de  la  Paix.  At 
last,  after  I  had  walked  for — what  time  is  it?" 

"Half-past  eleven!"  said  Corentin. 

"I  escaped  at  nightfall;  then  I  have  been  walk- 
ing for  five  hours!"  exclaimed  Lydie. 

"You  will  find  rest,  you  will  find  your  good  Katt" 

"Oh!  monsieur,  there  is  no  more  rest  for  me!  I 
don't  wish  to  rest  anywhere  but  in  my  grave;  and  I 
shall  await  my  time  in  a  convent,  if  they  think  me 
worthy  to  enter." 

"Poor  little  girl,  you  did  all  that  you  could." 

"Ah,  sir,  if  you  knew  what  vile  creatures  I  nave 
been  thrown  among. ' ' 


4l6  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

"They  must  have  put  you  to  sleep?" 

"Ah!  that  was  it,"  said  poor  Lydie.  "A  little 
more  strength  and  I  shall  reach  the  house.  I  feel 
faint  and  my  ideas  are  not  very  distinct.  Just  now 
I  thought  that  I  was  in  a  garden." 

Corentin  carried  Lydie  in  his  arms;  she  lost  con- 
sciousness and  he  bore  her  up  the  stairway. 

"Katt!"  he  cried. 

Katt  appeared,  crying  for  joy. 

"Don't  rejoice  too  soon!"  said  Corentin  senten- 
tiously;  "the  girl  is  very  sick." 

When  Lydie  had  been  laid  upon  her  bed,  and 
when  by  the  light  of  the  two  candles  which  Katt 
had  lighted,  she  recognized  her  chamber,  she  grew 
delirious.  She  sang  snatches  of  sweet  tunes,  and 
then  of  a  sudden,  screamed  horrible  phrases  which 
she  had  heard !  Her  lovely  face  was  streaked  with 
tints  of  violet.  She  mingled  the  remembrances  of 
her  pure  life  with  those  of  the  ten  days  of  infamy. 
Katt  wept.  Corentin  paced  up  and  down  the  room, 
stopping  by  moments  to  examine  Lydie. 

"She  is  paying  her  father's  debt!"  said  he;  "can 
there  be  a  Providence  ?  Oh !  I  have  been  right  to 
have  no  family.  A  child,  I'll  swear  to  it,  is  a  host- 
age to  misfortune,  as  some  philosopher  says." 

"Oh!"  said  the  poor  girl,  raising  herself  upon  her 
elbow,  and  letting  her  lovely  hair  fall  backward, 
"in  place  of  being  laid  here,  Katt,  I  ought  to  be  laid 
upon  the  sand  at  the  bottom  of  the  Seine." 

"Katt,  instead  of  crying  and  looking  at  your  child, 
which  will  not  cure  her,  you  ought  to  go  and  find  a 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN         417 

doctor;  first  the  one  at  the  mayor's  office  and  then 
MM.  Desplein  and  Bianchon.  We  must  save  this 
innocent  creature." 

Corentin  wrote  down  the  addresses  of  these  two 
celebrated  physicians.  At  this  moment  a  familiar 
step  climbed  the  staircase ;  the  door  opened.  Pey- 
rade,  his  face  purple  and  covered  with  sweat,  his 
eyes  almost  bleeding,  breathing  like  a  porpoise, 
sprang frcm  the  parlor  door  to  Lydie's  room,  crying: 

"Where  is  my  daughter?" 

Peyrade  saw  a  melancholy  gesture  of  Corentin ; 
his  look  followed  the  gesture.  Lydie's  condition 
can  only  be  compared  to  that  of  a  flower  lovingly 
reared  by  some  botanist,  which  has  fallen  from  its 
stalk  and  been  trodden  beneath  the  hob-nailed  boots 
of  a  peasant  Transport  this  image  into  a  father's 
heart  and  you  can  understand  the  blow  that  fell 
upon  Peyrade.  Big  tears  welled  up  in  his  eyes. 

"Somebody  is  crying;  it  is  my  father,"  said  the 
child. 

Lydie  could  still  recognize  her  father ;  she  raised 
herself  from  her  bed  and  fell  down  at  the  old  man's 
knees,  just  as  he  sank  into  an  arm-chair. 

' '  Pardon,  papa !' '  said  she  in  a  voice  which  pierced 
Peyrade's  heart  at  the  moment  when  he  felt  as  if  a 
hammer  beat  against  his  skull. 

"I  am  dying.  Ah!  the  villains!"  were  his  last 
words. 

Corentin  went  to  his  friend's  assistance ;  and  saw 
him  breathe  his  last. 

"Death  from  poison!"  said  Corentin  to  himself. 
27 


4l8  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

"Ah!  here's  the  doctor,"  he  exclaimed,  hearing  the 
rumbling  of  a  carriage. 

Contenson,  who  appeared  with  his  face  cleansed 
from  its  black  disguise,  stood  as  though  transformed 
into  a  bronze  statue,  when  he  heard  Lydie  say : 

"Then  you  won't  pardon  me,  father?  It  was  not 
my  fault!" 

She  did  not  know  that  her  father  was  dead. 

"  Oh!  how  his  eyes  stare  at  me!"  said  the  crazed 
girl. 

"I  must  close  them, "said  Contenson  as  he  laid 
the  dead  Peyrade  upon  the  bed. 

"  We  are  acting  like  fools,"  said  Corentin;  "let 
us  carry  him  to  his  room.  His  daughter  is  half-mad; 
she  will  become  wholly  so,  if  she  sees  that  he  is 
dead,  for  she  will  think  that  she  has  killed  him." 

Lydie  watched  them  bear  away  her  father,  and 
sat  still  as  if  she  were  dazed. 

"  There  lies  my  only  friend!"  said  Corentin,  who 
seemed  deeply  moved  when  Peyrade  was  laid  upon 
the  bed  in  his  own  room.  "  In  all  his  life  he  had 
but  one  avaricious  thought  and  that  was  for  his 
daughter!  Let  it  be  a  lesson  to  you,  Contenson. 
Every  station  of  life  has  its  honor.  Peyrade  did 
wrong  to  meddle  with  private  affairs;  our  business 
is  with  public  matters.  But,  come  what  may,  I 
swear,"  said  he,  while  his  accent,  look  and  gesture 
struck  Contenson  with  dread,  "  to  revenge  my  poor 
Peyrade!  I  will  unearth  the  authors  of  his  death, 
and  those  of  his  daughter's  shame! — And  by  my  own 
selfishness,  by  the  few  days  which  yet  remain  to 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN         419 

me  and  which  I  risk  in  this  revenge,  every  man 
among  them  shall  end  his  life  at  four  o'clock  in  the 
morning,  in  excellent  health,  clean  shaven,  in  the 
Place  de  Greve!"— 

"And  I  will  aid  you!"  said  Contenson,  much 
moved. 

Nothing  is  more  affecting  than  the  sight  of  passion 
in  a  cold,  calculating,  methodical  man,  who  for 
twenty  years  has  never  been  seen  to  display  the 
slightest  indication  of  sensibility.  His  the  bar  of 
iron,  in  fusion,  which  melts  everything  with  which  it 
comes  into  contact.  Contenson's  very  entrails  were 
stirred  within  him. 

"Poor  Pere  Canquoelle!"  continued  he,  looking 
at  Corentin,  "  he  has  often  paid  for  my  dinner — and 
— none  but  vicious  people  would  do  a  thing  like  this 
— he  often  gave  me  ten  francs  to  play. — " 

After  this  funeral  oration,  Peyrade's  two  avengers, 
hearing  Katt  and  the  physician  from  the  mayor's 
office  upon  the  staircase,  went  into  Lydie's  room. 

"  Go  to  the  Commissioner  of  Police,"  said  Coren- 
tin, "the  public  prosecutor  would  never  find  warrant 
for  a  prosecution,  but  we  must  have  a  report  left  at 
the  Prefecture;  that,  perhaps,  may  be  of  some  use. 
—Sir,"  said  he  to  the  physician,  "you  will  find  in  that 
room  a  dead  man;  I  do  not  think  that  his  death  was 
natural.  You  will  make  an  autopsy  in  the  presence 
of  the  Commissioner  of  Police,  who  will  come  at 
my  request.  Try  to  discover  traces  of  poison;  you 
will  be  assisted  in  a  few  moments  by  MM.  Desplein 
and  Bianchon,  whom  I  have  summoned  to  examine 


420  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

the  daughter  of  my  best  friend,  for  her  condition  is 
worse  than  her  father's,  though  he  is  dead." 

"  I  have  no  need  of  these  gentlemen's  assistance 
in  the  practice  of  my  profession,"  said  the  doctor. 

"  Ah!  good!"  thought  Corentin.  "  Don't  let  us 
interfere  with  you,  sir,"  continued  he  aloud.  "To 
be  brief, — this  is  my  opinion:  those  who  have  killed 
the  father  have  also  dishonored  the  daughter." 

At  daybreak  Lydie  had  at  length  succumbed  to 
her  fatigue:  she  was  sleeping  when  the  distinguished 
surgeon  and  the  young  doctor  appeared.  The 
physician  entrusted  with  the  autopsy  had  opened 
Peyrade's  body  and  was  searching  for  the  causes  of 
death. 

"While  you  wait  for  your  patient  to  awake," 
said  Corentin  to  the  two  famous  doctors,  "  would 
you  aid  one  of  your  medical  brethren  in  a  demon- 
stration which  you  will  surely  not  find  uninteresting? 
Your  opinion  will  not  be  without  weight  in  the  legal 
statement." 

"Your  relative  died  of  apoplexy,"  said  the 
doctor;  "  there  are  proofs  of  a  horrible  cerebral  con- 
gestion." 

"  Make  an  examination,  gentlemen,"  said  Coren- 
tin, "  and  look  to  see  whether,  in  the  catalogue  of 
poisons,  there  are  not  any  which  produce  the  same 
effect." 

"The  stomach,"  said  the  doctor,  "was  com- 
pletely filled  with  matter,  but  so  far  as  I  can  see, 
without  the  apparatus  for  a  chemical  analysis,  there 
is  no  trace  of  poison." 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN         421 

"If  the  characteristics  of  cerebral  congestion  are 
perfectly  evident,  that,"  said  Desplein,  pointing  to 
the  great  quantity  of  ill-digested  food,  "is,  consider- 
ing the  subject's  age,  a  sufficient  cause  for  death." 

"Did  he  eat  here?"  asked  Bianchon. 

"No,"  said  Corentin,  "he  came  here  hurriedly 
from  the  Boulevard  and  found  his  daughter  dis- 
honored.— " 

"There  is  the  real  poison,  if  he  loved  his  daugh- 
ter," said  Bianchon. 

"What  poison  is  there  which  could  produce  that 
effect?"  demanded  Corentin,  without  abandoning 
his  idea. 

"There  is  but  one,"  said  Desplein,  after  a  care- 
ful examination.  "It  is  a  poison  of  the  Javanese 
archipelago,  taken  from  a  species  of  bush  which 
as  yet  is  little  known.  It  is  akin  to  strychnine, 
and  serves  to  poison  that  most  dangerous  weapon, 
the  Malay  creese — at  least,  so  they  say. ' ' 

The  Commissioner  of  Police  arrived;  Corentin 
informed  him  of  his  suspicions,  and  requesting  him 
to  write  out  a  report,  he  stated  in  what  house  and 
with  what  persons  Peyrade  had  taken  supper;  next 
he  advised  him  of  the  plot  formed  against  Peyrade's 
life  and  the  cause  of  Lydie's  condition.  When  he 
had  concluded,  Corentin  stepped  toward  the  apart- 
ment of  the  poor  girl,  where  Desplein  and  Bianchon 
were  examining  the  patient;  but  he  met  them  at 
the  door. 

"Well,  gentlemen?"  inquired  Corentin. 

"Place  the  girl    in  an  asylum;  if  she  does  not 


422  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

recover  her  reason  in  childbirth,  that  is  if  she  be- 
comes pregnant,  she  will  be  a  maniac  and  melancholy 
to  the  end  of  her  days.  For  her  cure  there  is  no  other 
resource  than  the  sentiment  of  maternity,  if  it 
wakens. — " 

Corentin  gave  forty  francs  in  gold  to  each 
doctor,  and  turned  to  the  Commissioner  of  Police, 
who  pulled  him  by  the  sleeve. 

"  The  doctor  maintains  that  the  death  is  natural," 
said  the  officer,  "  and  it  will  be  all  the  more  difficult  to 
make  a  report  since  Pere  Canquoelle  is  the  subject: 
he  meddled  with  many  people's  affairs  and  we  should 
never  know  whom  we  might  fall  foul  of — men  like 
him  often  die  per  order. — " 

"  My  name  is  Corentin,"  said  Corentin  in  the 
commissioner's  ear.  The  commissioner  betrayed  a 
gesture  of  surprise. — 

"Make  a  note  of  these  facts,"  continued  Coren- 
tin. "  It  will  be  very  useful  later,  and  don't  send  it 
unless  under  the  heading  of  confidential  informa- 
tion. The  crime  cannot  be  proved  and  I  know  that 
the  preparations  would  be  cut  short  at  the  very  first 
step. — But  some  day  I  will  deliver  up  the  guilty  to 
Justice.  I  am  going  to  watch  them  and  catch  them 
with  the  blood  still  on  their  hands." 

The  Commissioner  of  Police  bowed  to  Corentin 
and  went  away. 

"  Sir,"  said  Katt,  "  mademoiselle,  will  do  nothing 
but  sing  and  dance;  what  can  1  do?" 

"  Something  has  happened  then?" 

"  She  has  learned  that  her  father  is  dead.—" 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN         423 

"Put  her  in  a  cab,  and  take  her  with  all  gentle- 
ness to  Charenton;  I  am  going  to  write  a  line 
to  the  Director-General  of  the  Police  of  the  Kingdom, 
so  that  she  may  be  suitably  cared  for.  The 
daughter  at  Charenton,  the  father  in  the  Potter's 
Field!"  said  Corentin.  "  Contenson  go  and  get  the 
cart  for  the  dead  poor.  Now  you  have  two  men  to 
settle  with,  Don  Carlos  Herrera!" 

"Carlos?"  ejaculated  Contenson;  "he  is  in 
Spain." 

"  He  is  in  Paris!"  said  Corentin  peremptorily. 
"  He  has  within  him  the  genius  of  Spain  in  the  time 
of  Philip  II.,  but  I  have  traps  for  everybody,  even 
for  kings. 


At  nine  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  the  fifth  day  after 
the  disappearance  of  the  nabob,  Madame  du  Val  Noble 
was  seated  at  the  foot  of  Esther's  bed  and  was  crying 
there,  for  she  felt  herself  upon  the  brink  of  penury. 

"  If  I  had  an  income  of  but  a  hundred  louis!  With 
that,  my  dear,  a  woman  could  retire  into  some  little 
village  somewhere  and  be  able  to  marry. — " 

"  I  can  get  it  for  you!"  said  Esther. 

"  How?"  exclaimed  Madame  du  Val  Noble. 

"  Oh!  very  simply.  Listen  to  me.  You  are  bent 
upon  suicide;  play  that  comedy  well;  you  will  sum- 
mon Asia  and  offer  her  ten  thousand  francs  for  two 
black  pearls,  contained  in  very  thin  glass.  They 
hold  a  poison  which  kills  in  one  second;  you  will  bring 
them  to  me;  I'll  give  you  fifty  thousand  francs. — " 

"  Why  not  ask  for  them  yourself?"  said  Madame 
du  Val  Noble. 

"  Asia  would  not  sell  them  to  me." 

"  It  is  not  for  you?"  said  Madame  du  Val  Noble. 

"  Perhaps." 

"  You,  who  are  living  in  the  midst  of  pleasure  and 
luxury  in  a  house  of  your  own!  on  the  eve  of  a  f£te, 
which  people  will  talk  about  for  ten  years  to  come, 
and  which  costs  Nucingen  twenty  thousand  francs! 
The  guests,  they  say,  will  eat  strawberries  in  the 
month  of  February — asparagus,  grapes,  melons. — 
There  will  be  three  thousand  francs'  worth  of 
flowers  in  your  rooms." 

(425) 


426  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

"  Is  that  all?  There  are  three  thousand  francs' 
worth  of  roses  on  the  staircase  alone." 

"I  have  heard  that  your  gown  costs  ten  thousand 
francs." 

"  Yes,  my  gown  is  made  out  of  point  lace  from 
Brussels;  and  Delphine,  his  wife,  is  furious.  But  I 
wished  to  look  like  a  wife  myself." 

"  Where  are  the  ten  thousand  francs  ?"  said 
Madame  du  Val  Noble. 

"  It  is  all  my  money,"  said  Esther,  smiling. 
"Open  my  dressing-case;  they  are  beneath  my 
curl-papers. — " 

"When  people  talk  of  dying,  it  is  seldom  that 
they  kill  themselves,"  said  Madame  du  Val  Noble. 
"If  it  were  to  commit — " 

"  A  crime?  out  with  it!"  said  Esther,  finishing 
the  sentence  which  her  friend  hesitated  to  complete. 
"You  need  not  fear,"  she  continued;  "I  don't 
wish  to  kill  anybody.  I  had  a  friend,  a  woman 
who  was  very  happy;  she  is  dead;  I  shall  follow 
her— that  is  all." 

"  Are  you  mad? — " 

"Why  are  you  surprised?  We  had  promised  this 
to  each  other." 

"  You  must  protest  that  note!"  said  her  friend, 
smiling. 

"  Do  what  I  say  and  go  away.  I  hear  a  carriage 
coming,  and  it  is  Nucingen.  That  man  will  go  mad 
with  his  happiness.  He  really  loves  me.  Why  is  it 
we  never  love  those  who  love  us.  They  do  every- 
thing to  please  us." 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN        427 

"Ah,"  said  Madame  du  Val  Noble,  "  that  is  the 
story  of  the  herring,  the  most  loving  of  fish!" 

"Why?" 

"No  one  has  ever  learned." 

"  Away  with  you,  my  pet!  I  must  ask  for  your 
fifty  thousand  francs." 

"Then — adieu." 

For  three  days  past  Esther's  behavior  toward  the 
baron  had  changed  completely.  The  monkey  had 
become  a  cat  and  the  cat  was  turning  into  a  woman. 
Esther  lavished  the  riches  of  her  affection  upon 
this  old  man,  and  had  made  herself  irresistible. 
Her  conversation,  divested  of  malice  and  bitter- 
ness and  full  of  tender  insinuations,  had  brought 
conviction  into  the  mind  of  the  fat-witted  banker. 
She  called  him  Fritz ;  he  thought  that  he  was 
loved. 

"My  poor  Fritz,  I  have  tried  you  in  the  fire,"  said 
she.  "1  have  tormented  you;  your  patience  has  been 
sublime.  You  love  me,  I  recognize  it,  and  you  shall 
have  your  reward.  You  please  me  now,  and  I  know 
not  how  it  is,  but  I  prefer  you  to  a  young  man.  Per- 
haps it  is  the  result  of  experience. — In  the  end  a 
woman  comes  to  believe  that  pleasure  is  the  soul's 
fortune,  and  that  it  is  no  more  flattering  to  be  loved 
for  pleasure  than  to  be  loved  for  one's  money. 
Young  men  are  too  egotistical;  they  think  more  of 
themselves  than  they  do  of  us;  while  you  think  of 
nothing  but  me.  I  am  all  your  life;  I  wish  nothing 
more  of  you;  my  only  desire  is  to  prove  to  you  the 
extent  of  my  disinterested  affection." 


428  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

"I  have  gifen  you  nodding,"  answered  the  de- 
lighted baron.  "1  eentent  to  make  ofer  to  you 
do-morrow  an  ingome  of  dirdy  tausent  vrancs. — Eet 
ees  my  vedding  cake." 

Esther  embraced  Nucingen  so  tenderly  that  he 
grew  pale. 

"Oh!"  said  she,  "don't  think  that  it  is  your 
thirty  thousand  francs  that  makes  me  thus;  it  is 
because  now  I  love  you,  my  fat  Frederic. — " 

"  Och,  mein  Gott,  vy  tid  you  broof  me — I  zhould 
haf  peen  so  habby  vor  dree  months." 

"Is  it  in  three  per  cents  or  in  fives,  my  pet?" 
said  Esther,  passing  her  hands  through  Nucingen's 
hair  and  arranging  it  according  to  her  fancy. 

"Een  drees — I  haf  guandities." — 

The  same  morning  the  baron  brought  a  duplicate 
of  the  entry  in  his  ledger;  he  came  to  breakfast  with 
his  dear  little  girl,  in  order  to  receive  her  orders  for 
the  morrow,  the  glorious  Saturday,  the  great  day! 

"  Dake  zis,  meine  leetle  vife,  meine  only  vife," 
said  the  banker  joyously,  his  face  radiant  with  hap- 
piness; "here  ees  someting  to  bay  for  ze  exbenses  of 
your  dable  for  ze  resd  of  your  tays." 

Esther  took  the  paper  without  the  slightest  emo- 
tion, folded  it,  and  laid  it  in  her  dressing-case. 

"Now  you  are  happy,  monster  of  iniquity,"  said 
she,  gently  tapping  Nucingen's  cheek,  "at  seeing 
me  at  last  accept  something  from  you.  I  can't  tell 
you  the  truth  about  yourself  any  more,  for  now  I 
share  the  fruits  of  what  you  call  your  business. 
That's  not  a  gift,  my  poor  boy;  it's  a  restitution. 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN        429 

Now  don't  put  on  your  Stock  Exchange  expression; 
you  know  very  well  that  I  love  you." 

"Meine  peaudiful  Esder,  meine  anchel  of  luff," 
said  the  banker,  "to  not  dalk  any  more  een  zis  vay. 
I  zhould  not  gare  eef  ze  whole  vorld  zhould  gall  me 
ein  ropper,  eef  in  your  eyes  I  vas  an  honesd  man. 
I  luff  you  more  ant  more  efery  tay." 

"I  intend  that  you  should,"  said  Esther;  "I  will 
not  say  another  word  to  hurt  your  feelings,  my  pet 
elephant,  for  you  have  become  simple  as  a  child. 
Lord,  you  fat  rascal,  you  never  had  any  innocence. 
The  little  that  you  had  when  you  came  into  the 
world  must  have  reappeared  on  the  surface;  but  it 
had  sunk  so  deep  that  it  never  reappeared  until  after 
sixty-six  years  and  then  it  was  drawn  up  by  love's 
hook.  This  phenomenon  occurs  among  old  men. 
And  this  is  why  I  have  come  to  love  you;  you  are 
young,  very  young. — No  one  but  I  shall  have  ever 
known  this,  Frederic. — I  alone. — For  you  were  a 
banker  at  fifteen.  I  suppose  that  you  lent  your  col- 
lege friends  one  bank  note  on  the  condition  that  they 
should  give  you  two  in  return." 

Seeing  him  smile  she  leaped  into  his  lap. 

"  Do  what  you  will,  rob  men,  lead  the  way,  I'll 
help  you.  Men  are  not  worth  the  trouble  of  loving 
them;  Napoleon  killed  them  like  flies.  What  do  the 
French  care  whether  it  is  to  you  or  to  the  budget 
that  they  pay  their  contributions?  They  are  not  in 
love  with  the  budget,  and  good  Lord, — get  to  your 
work;  I  have  thought  it  over;  you  are  right.  Shear 
the  sheep.  It  says  so  in  the  gospel  according  to 


430  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

Beranger.  Kiss  your  Esder.  Ah!  do  say  that  you 
will  give  that  poor  Val  Noble  all  the  furniture  in  the 
Rue  Taitbout  apartments!  and  then  to-morrow  you 
will  offer  her  fifty  thousand  francs.  That  will  look 
very  well.  Listen,  my  darling  ;  you  killed  Falleix. 
They  began  a  hue  and  cry  after  you.  This  gen- 
erosity will  appear  Babylonian, — and  all  the  women 
will  be  talking  about  you.  Oh!  you  will  be  all  that 
is  great  and  noble  in  Paris;  and  the  world  is  so  con- 
stituted that  it  will  forget  Falleix.  Thus,  after  all, 
'tis  but  money  placed  at  interest." 

"You  are  right,  meine  anchel,  you  know  ze 
vorld, "  said  he,  "you  zhall  pe  meine  gounseller." 

"So  you  see,"  replied  Esther,  "  how  careful  I  am 
of  my  friend's  interests,  of  his  reputation  and  of  his 
honor.  Go  and  come  back  with  the  fifty  thousand 
francs." 

She  wished  to  rid  herself  of  Nucingen  in  order  that 
she  might  summon  a  stock-broker  and  sell  the  bond 
that  same  afternoon  at  the  Exchange. 

"  Ant  vy  ad  vunce?"  demanded  he. 

"  Why,  my  pet,  you  must  offer  them,  in  a  little 
satin  box,  under  a  fan.  You  will  say  to  her,  '  Here, 
madame,  is  a  fan  which  I  trust  may  please  you.' 
People  think  you  are  but  a  Turcaret;  you  will  sur- 
pass Beaujon." 

"  Jarming!  Jarming!"  exclaimed  the  baron;  "  zen 
I  zhall  pe  glever!  Yez,  I  zhall  rebeat  your  vorts." 

As  poor  Esther  sat  down,  exhausted  by  the  effort 
she  had  made  in  playing  her  part,  Europe  entered. 

"  Madame,"  said  she,  "  a  messenger  sent  from 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN        431 

the  Quai  Malaquais  by  Celestin,  M.  Lucien's 
valet."— 

"  Let  him  come  in!  No. — I  will  go  into  the  other 
room." 

"  There  is  a  letter  from  Celestin  for  madame." 

Esther  sprang  into  the  antechamber;  she  looked 
at  the  messenger  and  saw  nothing  suspicious  in  his 
appearance. 

"  Tell  him  to  come  down!"  said  Esther  feebly,  as 
she  sank  into  a  chair,  when  she  had  finished  reading 
the  letter.  "  Lucien  wishes  to  kill  himself,"  she 
added  in  Europe's  ear;  "show  him  the  letter." 

Carlos  Herrera,  still  dressed  as  a  commercial  trav- 
eler, came  downstairs  without  hesitation,  but  when 
he  perceived  a  stranger  in  the  room  his  glance  fell 
instantly  upon  the  messenger. 

"  You  told  me  that  there  was  nobody,"  whispered 
he  to  Europe. 

Then  with  extraordinary  prudence,  he  passed  at 
once  into  the  parlor,  casting  a  searching  look  at  the 
messenger.  Trompe-la-Mort  did  not  know  that  for 
some  time  past  the  famous  Chief  of  the  Secret  Ser- 
vice, who  had  arrested  him  in  Madame  Vauquier's 
boarding  house,  had  a  rival,  thought  by  many  more 
fit  than  he  for  his  position.  This  rival  was  the 
messenger. 

"  They  are  right,"  said  the  sham  messenger  to 
Contenson,  who  was  waiting  for  him  in  the  street; 
"the  man  you  described  is  in  the  house;  but  he  is 
not  a  Spaniard,  and  I  will  burn  my  hand  off  if  our 
bird  isn't  hidden  beneath  his  cassock." 


432  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

"He's  no  more  priest  than  Spaniard,"  said  Con- 
tenson. 

"  I'm  sure  of  it,"  said  the  agent  of  the  Secret  Ser- 
vice. 

"  Oh!  if  we  were  right!"  said  Contenson. 

Lucien  had  in  fact  been  away  for  two  days,  and 
his  enemies  had  profited  by  his  absence  to  set  this 
trap;  but  he  returned  the  same  evening,  and  Esther's 
anxiety  was  calmed. 

The  next  morning,  just  as  the  courtesan  was 
returning  to  bed  after  her  bath,  her  friend  arrived. 

"  I  have  the  two  pearls,"  said  the  Val  Noble. 

"  Let  me  see  them,"  said  Esther,  raising  herself 
and  burying  her  pretty  elbow  in  a  pillow  trimmed 
with  lace. 

Madame  du  Val  Noble  held  toward  her  friend  two 
black  balls  like  gooseberries.  The  baron  had  pre- 
sented Esther  with  a  pair  of  small  greyhounds  of  a 
famous  breed,  which  will  eventually  bear  the  name 
of  a  great  poet  of  our  era,  who  has  brought  them 
into  fashion.  Proud  of  the  gift,  the  courtesan  had 
kept  for  them  the  names  of  their  ancestors,  Romeo 
and  Juliet.  It  is  superfluous  to  speak  of  the  charm, 
the  whiteness,  the  grace  of  these  animals,  made  for 
the  drawing-room,  whose  behavior  had  something 
of  English  discretion.  Esther  called  Romeo;  Romeo 
ran  toward  her.  His  legs  were  so  lithe,  so  slender, 
so  strong,  so  nervous  that  they  looked  like  rods  of 
steel.  He  looked  at  his  mistress.  Esther  made  a 
gesture  as  if  to  throw  him  one  of  the  two  pearls  in 
order  to  arouse  his  attention.  "His  name  destines 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN        433 

him  to  die  thus!'*  said  Esther,  tossing  the  pearl 
which  Romeo  crunched  between  his  teeth. 

The  dog  did  not  utter  a  cry;  he  rolled  over  quite 
dead.  The  deed  was  done  while  Esther  was  still 
saying  the  words  of  her  funeral  oration. 

"Ah,  angels  of  Heaven!"  exclaimed  Madame  du 
Val  Noble. 

"You  have  a  cab;  carry  away  the  late  Romeo," 
said  Esther;  "  his  death  would  make  an  uproar  here; 
I  shall  have  given  him  to  you,  and  you  will  have 
lost  him.  Advertise.  Hurry;  to-night  you  shall  have 
your  fifty  thousand  francs." 

This  was  said  with  the  perfect  insensibility  of  a 
courtesan,  and  so  quietly  that  Madame  du  Val  Noble 
exclaimed  involuntarily: 

"You  are  indeed  our  queen !" 

"  Come  early,  and  look  your  best !" 

At  five  o'clock  in  the  evening  Esther  dressed  her- 
self in  a  bridal  costume.  A  lace  gown  covered  her 
white  satin  skirt;  she  wore  a  white  girdle,  and  shoes 
of  white  satin.  Over  her  beautiful  shoulders  was 
thrown  a  scarf  of  English  lace.  Her  hair  was  inter- 
twined with  real  white  camelias,  in  imitation  of  the 
head-dress  of  some  young  girl.  She  displayed  upon 
her  neck  a  collar  of  pearls,  the  gift  of  Nucingen, 
bought  for  thirty  thousand  francs.  Although  her 
toilette  was  completed  at  six  o'clock,  she  closed  her 
doors  to  everybody,  even  to  Nucingen.  Europe 
knew  that  Lucien  was  to  be  introduced  into  the  bed- 
chamber. Lucien  arrived  on  the  stroke  of  seven, 
and  Europe  found  means  to  lead  him  unperceived  to 
28 


434  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

Esther's  room.    When  Lucien  saw  Esther,  he  said 
to  himself: 

"  Why  should  I  not  go  and  live  with  her  at 
Rubempre,  far  from  the  world,  and  never  again 
return  to  Paris  ?  I  have  had  five  years  as  earnest 
of  the  future,  and  this  woman  will  never  deceive 
me.  Where  can  I  find  a  masterpiece  like  her  ?" 

"My  dearest,  you  whom  I  have  made  my  god," 
said  Esther,  kneeling  on  a  cushion  before  Lucien, 
"bless  me." 

Lucien  wished  to  raise  Esther  and  embrace  her, 
saying,  "What  is  this  pleasantry,  my  love?"  He 
tried  to  grasp  her  waist,  but  she  disengaged  herself 
with  a  movement  that  expressed  as  much  respect  as 
horror. 

"I  am  no  longer  worthy  of  you,  Lucien,"  said 
she,  suffering  the  tears  to  roll  down  from  her  eyes. 
"  I  beg  of  you  to  bless  me,  and  swear  to  me  that 
you  will  endow  two  beds  at  the  hospital,  since 
another's  prayers  in  church  will  never  buy  my  par- 
don from  God.  I  have  loved  you  too  well,  Lucien. 
Tell  me  that  I  have  made  you  happy,  and  that 
sometimes  you  will  think  of  me. — Tell  me !" 
|  Lucien  saw  that  Esther  was  deeply  in  earnest;  he 
stood,  thoughtful. 

"  You  wish  to  kill  yourself,"  said  he  at  length,  in 
a  voice  which  denoted  deep  meditation. 

"  No,  my  love;  but  to-day,  as  you  know,  marks 
the  death  of  the  pure,  chaste,  loving  woman  you 
have  known — and  1  fear  that  1  shall  die  of  sorrow." 

"  Poor  child,  wait !"  said  Lucien.    "  For  two  days 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN        435 

past  I  have  been  making  every  effort,  I  have  even 
been  able  to  reach  Clotilde — " 

"  Nothing  but  Clotilde !"  ejaculated  Esther,  with 
an  accent  of  concentrated  rage. 

"  Yes,"  he  replied;  "  we  are  in  communication. — 
Tuesday  morning  she  leaves  Paris;  but  on  her  way 
to  Italy,  I  shall  have  an  interview  with  her  at  Fon- 
tainebleau." 

"  Ah,  heavens !  what  would  you  men  have  for 
wives  ?  Sticks  of  wood !"  cried  poor  Esther.  "An- 
swer me  this:  If  I  had  seven  or  eight  millions,  would 
you  not  marry  me?" 

"Child!  I  was  going  to  tell  you  that  if  all  is 
over  for  me,  I  do  not  wish  another  wife  than  you." 

Esther  lowered  her  head  to  conceal  her  sudden 
paleness  and  the  tears  which  she  wiped  away. 

"  You  love  me?"  said  she,  looking  at  Lucien  with 
deep  sadness.  "  Let  my  blessing  go  with  you. 
Don't  compromise  yourself.  Go  out  by  the  side 
door,  and  act  as  if  you  were  coming  from  the  ante- 
chamber to  the  drawing-room.  Kiss  me  on  the 
forehead,"  she  said. 

She  took  Lucien  in  her  arms,  pressed  him 
frantically  to  her  heart,  and  said,  "Go,  go — or  I 
live." 

When  the  dying  woman  appeared  in  the  drawing- 
room,  there  was  a  cry  of  admiration.  Esther's  eyes 
had  cast  aside  the  depths  of  thought  in  which  her 
soul  was  plunged.  The  blue  black  of  her  fine  hair 
was  set  off  by  the  camelias.  In  a  word,  every 
effect  which  this  splendid  courtesan  had  sought  to 


436  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

produce  had  been  obtained.  She  had  no  rivals. 
She  seemed  like  the  supreme  expression  of  the 
boundless  luxury  by  whose  creations  she  was  sur- 
rounded. She  was  sparkling  with  wit.  She  led  the 
orgy  with  that  cold  and  calm  power  which  Habeneck 
displays  in  the  Conservatory  at  those  concerts  in 
which  the  first  musicians  of  Europe  rise  to  the  sub- 
limities of  execution  in  their  interpretations  of 
Mozart  and  of  Beethoven.  She  noticed,  neverthe- 
less, with  consternation  that  Nucingen  ate  little, 
drank  nothing,  and  did  the  honors  of  the  house. 
At  midnight,  nobody  was  in  possession  of  his  facul- 
ties. Glasses  were  broken  past  repair  ;  two  hand- 
painted  curtains  of  Chinese  silk  were  torn.  For  the 
second  time  in  his  life,  Bixiou  was  intoxicated;  no- 
body could  stand  erect;  the  women  went  fast  asleep 
on  divans.  The  guests  could  not  carry  out  the  jest 
which  they  had  carefully  arranged  beforehand,  of 
conducting  Nucingen  and  Esther  to  their  bed-room, 
ranged  in  two  rows,  with  candelabra  in  their  hands 
and  singing  in  unison  the  Buona  sera  of  the  Barbier 
de  Seville.  Nucingen  gave  his  arm  to  Esther.  Drunk 
as  he  was,  Bixiou  perceived  them,  and  still  found 
strength  to  say,  as  Rivarol  did  in  regard  to  the  last 
marriage  of  the  Duke  de  Richelieu,  "  The  Prefect 
of  Police  must  be  warned;  danger  is  impending." 
The  jester  thought  to  jest;  he  was  a  prophet. 


M.  de  Nucingen  did  not  return  to  his  house  until 
Monday  toward  mid-day;  but  at  one  o'clock  his 
broker  informed  him  that  Mademoiselle  Esther  Van 
Bogseck  had  sold,  since  Wednesday,  the  thirty 
thousand  francs  a  year  in  bonds,  and  that  she  had 
lately  realized  the  price. 

"But  Monsieur  le  baron,"  said  he,  "M.  Der- 
ville's  head  clerk  happened  to  come  to  my  house  as 
I  was  speaking  of  this  transfer;  and  after  he  had 
seen  Mademoiselle  Esther's  real  name,  he  told  me 
that  she  was  the  heiress  of  a  fortune  of  seven 
millions." 

"Pah!" 

"Yes,  she  is  probably  the  sole  heiress  of  Gob- 
seek,  the  old  discounter.  Derville  is  going  to  verify 
the  facts.  If  your  mistress'  mother  is  the  beautiful 
Dutch  woman,  she  inherits — " 

"I  know  eet,"said  the  banker;  "she  haz  toltme 
ze  zdory  of  her  life.  I  vill  wride  eine  line  do  Ter- 
file." 

The  baron  sat  down  at  his  desk,  wrote  a  brief 
note  to  Derville,  and  despatched  it  by  one  of  his 
servants.  Then  leaving  the  stock  exchange  at  three 
o'clock,  he  went  straight  to  Esther's  door. 

"  Madame  has  left  orders  that  she  is  not  to  be 
disturbed  for  any  reason  whatsoever;  she  is  in  bed 
and  asleep." 

(437) 


438  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

"Ah,  ze  tefil,"  exclaimed  the  baron,  "  Irobe,  zhe 
vould  not  pe  zorry  to  learn  zat  zhe  has  pegome 
enormouzly  rech.  Zhe  eenhereds  sefen  millions, 
Olt  Copseck  ees  teat  and  leafes  his  sefen  millions, 
ant  your  misdress  ees  his  zole  heiress,  her  modder 
peing  ze  own  niece  of  Copseck,  who,  pesides,  has 
mate  ein  vill.  I  coult  nefer  imachine  zat  ein  mill- 
ionaire like  him  zhoult  leaf  Esder  in  boferdy." 

"Ah,  then  your  reign  is  over,  you  old  moun- 
tebank!" said  Europe,  eyeing  the  baron  with  an 
effrontery  worthy  of  a  servant  in  Moliere.  "You 
old  Alsatian  crow,  she  loves  you  about  as  well  as 
you  love  the  plague.  Lord  of  heaven!  Millions!  She 
can  marry  her  love.  Oh!  how  happy  she  will  be!" 

And  Prudence  Servien  left  the  Baron  de  Nucingen 
completely  thunderstruck,  to  rush  and  announce, 
she  first  of  all!  this  stroke  of  fortune  to  her  mistress. 
The  old  man,  intoxicated  with  joy  more  than  mor- 
tal, and  believing  in  the  security  of  his  happiness, 
felt  his  love  drowned  in  cold  water  at  the  very  in- 
stant that  it  attained  its  highest  degree  of  incandes- 
cence. 

"Zhe  dezeivet  me,"  he  cried,  with  tears  in  his 
eyes.  "Zhe  dezeivet  me!  Oh,  Esder;  oh,  mein 
life.  Vool  zat  I  am.  To  zuch  viewers  efer  grow 
vor  olt  men?  I  can  puy  eferything  excebt  youth! 
Oh,  mein  gott!  vot  zhall  I  to?  Vat  vill  habben? 
Zie  gruel  Irobe  ees  right.  Esder,  once  rech,  esgabes 
me.  I  might  as  veil  go  ant  hang  myzelf. — Vat  ees 
life  widout  ze  define  vlame  of  loff  zat  I  have  dasded? 
Oh,  mein  gott! " 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN         439 

The  baron  snatched  away  the  tuft  of  false  hair 
that  for  three  months  past  he  had  mingled  with  his 
gray  hairs.  A  piercing  cry  uttered  by  Europe  made 
Nucingen  shudder  to  his  very  entrails.  The  poor 
banker  arose  and  walked  with  his  legs  reeling  like 
those  of  a  drunken  man  from  the  cup  of  disenchant- 
ment which  he  had  emptied,  for  nothing  intoxicates 
like  the  strong  wine  of  misfortune. 

From  the  door  of  the  bed  chamber  he  could  see 
Esther  lying  rigidly  upon  the  bed,  her  face  discolored 
with  the  poison,  dead!  He  walked  to  the  bed  and 
fell  upon  his  knees. 

"You  are  right;  zhe  hat  zait  zo!  Zhe  diet  of 
me!"— 

Paccard,  Asia,  all  the  household,  ran  thither.  It 
was  a  scene  of  excitement  and  surprise,  not  of  afflic- 
tion. Everybody  felt  some  uncertainty.  The  baron 
became  a  banker  once  more;  his  suspicions  were 
aroused,  and  he  was  so  imprudent  as  to  ask  where 
were  the  seven  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  francs. 
Paccard,  Asia  and  Europe  looked  at  one  another  in 
so  singular  a  manner  that  M.  de  Nucingen  made  his 
escape  at  once  for  fear  of  robbery  or  murder. 
Europe,  who  caught  sight  of  a  sealed  package, 
whose  softness  betrayed  the  presence  of  bank  notes, 
beneath  the  pillow  of  her  mistress,  at  once  set  about 
"laying  out  the  body,"  as  she  called  it. 

"Go  and  inform  Carlos,  Asia!  To  die  before 
knowing  that  she  had  seven  millions!  Gobseck 
was  the  uncle  of  our  late  mistress!"  cried  she. 

Europe's  manoeuvre  was  understood  by  Paccard. 


440  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

The  second  that  Asia  turned  her  back,  Europe  un- 
sealed the  package  on  which  the  poor  courtesan  had 
written  :  "  To  be  given  to  M.  Lucien  de  Rubempre." 
Seven  hundred  and  fifty  notes,  each  of  a  thousand 
francs,  gleamed  before  the  eyes  of  Prudence  Ser- 
vien,  who  exclaimed: 

"  Why  not  be  happy  and  honest  for  the  rest  of 
our  days!" 

Paccard  made  no  objection;  the  thief  within  him 
was  stronger  than  his  devotion  to  Trompe-la-Mort. 

"  Durut  is  dead,"  answered  he,  taking  the  bank 
notes;  "my  shoulder  has  not  been  branded  yet. 
Let's  fly  together,  divide  the  sum  so  as  not  to  put 
all  our  eggs  into  one  basket,  and  then  we'll  marry,," 

"  But  where  can  we  hide?"  said  Prudence. 

"  In  Paris,"  answered  Paccard. 

Prudence  and  Paccard  descended  the  stairs  imme- 
diately with  the  speed  of  two  honest  people  turned 
thieves. 

"  My  child, "  said  Trompe-la-Mort  to  Asia,  when  she 
had  uttered  the  first  few  words  of  her  recital,  "find  a 
letter  written  by  Esther,  while  I  write  a  will  in  proper 
form,  and  you  will  carry  to  Girard  copies  of  the  tes- 
tament and  of  the  letter.  But  in  order  to  save  time, 
I  must  slip  the  testament  beneath  Esther's  pillow 
before  the  officers  come  to  seal  up  her  belongings." 

He  drew  up  the  following  testament : 

"  Having  never  loved  any  person  in  the  world  ex- 
cepting M.  Lucien  Chardon  de  Rubempre,  and  having 
resolved  to  put  an  end  to  my  life  rather  than  return 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN         441 

to  the  life  of  vice  and  infamy,  whence  his  charity 
has  rescued  me,  I  give  and  bequeath  to  the  aforesaid 
Lucien  Chardon  de  Rubempre  everything  that  I 
possess  on  the  day  of  my  decease,  on  condition  that 
a  foundation  be  made  in  the  parish  of  St.  Roch  for 
the  continual  saying  of  masses  for  the  repose  of  her 
who  has  given  him  all,  even  her  last  thought. 

"  ESTHER  GOBSECK." 

"  That  is  like  enough  to  her  style,"  thought 
Trompe-la-Mort. 

At  seven  o'clock  that  night,  the  testament,  written 
and  sealed,  was  placed  by  Asia  beneath  Esther's 
pillow. 

"Jacques,"  said  she,  rushing  upstairs  with  pre- 
cipitation, "just  as  I  left  the  room  the  officers  of 
justice  arrived." 

"  Do  you  mean  a  Justice  of  the  Peace?" 

"  No,  sonny.  There  was  indeed  the  Justice  of  the 
Peace  among  them,  but  he  was  accompanied  by 
gendarmes.  The  Public  Prosecutor  and  a  Judge  of 
the  Probate  Court  are  with  him ;  the  doors  are 
guarded." 

"  This  death  has  stirred  up  a  very  sudden  com- 
motion," remarked  Collin. 

"  Europe  and  Paccard  have  not  yet  reappeared. 
I'm  afraid  the  birds  have  flown  with  seven  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand  francs,"  said  Asia. 

"Ah!  the  wretches!"  said  Trompe-la-Mort;  "with 
their  vile  schemes,  they'll  ruin  us!" 

Human  justice  and  the  justice  of  Paris — that  is  to 


442  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

say,  the  most  suspicious,  the  most  acute,  the 
cleverest,  the  most  learned  justice  of  this  world — 
too  acute  even,  for  at  every  instant  she  is  interpret- 
ing the  law — at  length  laid  her  hand  on  the  machi- 
nators  of  this  horrible  plot.  The  Baron  de  Nucingen, 
recognizing  the  effects  of  poison,  and  not  finding  his 
seven  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  francs,  at  once 
suspected  one  of  the  two  odious  personages  whom 
he  detested,  Europe  or  Paccard,  to  be  guilty  of  the 
crime.  In  his  first  burst  of  mad  rage,  he  rushed  to 
the  Prefecture  of  Police.  It  was  an  alarm-bell, 
which  collected  all  of  Corentin's  numbers.  The 
Prefecture,  the  criminal  bar,  the  Commissioner  of 
Police,  the  Justice  of  the  Peace,  the  Judge  of  the 
Probate  Court— everybody  was  aroused.  At  nine 
o'clock  at  night,  three  physicians,  who  had  been 
summoned,  assisted  at  the  autopsy  of  poor  Esther's 
body,  and  the  investigation  began. 

Trompe-la-Mort,  warned  by  Asia,  exclaimed: 
"  They  don't  know  that  I  am  here.  1  can  get  a 
breath  of  air." 

He  raised  himself  by  the  frame  of  his  garret 
window,  and  with  matchless  agility  sprang  out 
upon  the  roof,  whence  he  began  to  study  the  sur- 
roundings with  the  matter-of-fact  coolness  of  a 
mason  laying  tiles. 

"  Good,"  said  he,  as  he  saw  a  garden  in  the  Rue 
de  Provence,  separated  from  them  by  five  houses. 
"That's  what  I  want." 

"  Your  game  is  up,  Trompe-la-Mort!"  The  sud- 
den cry  came  from  Contenson,  who  stepped  from 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN        443 

behind  the  chimney.  "You  will  explain  to  M. 
Camusot  what  mass  you  were  about  to  celebrate  on 
the  roof,  Monsieur  1'Abbe;  and  above  all,  why  you 
were  trying  to  escape." 

"  I  have  enemies  in  Spain,"  said  Carlos  Herrera. 

"Escape  to  Spain  by  your  garret,"  retorted 
Contenson. 

The  counterfeit  Spaniard  seemed  to  yield;  but 
suddenly  propping  himself  against  the  support  of  the 
window,  which  was  raised  considerably  above  the 
surface  of  the  roof,  he  seized  Contenson  and  hurled 
him  backward  with  such  violence  that  the  detective 
fell  headlong  into  the  gutter  of  the  Rue  Saint 
Georges.  Contenson  died  on  his  field  of  honor; 
Jacques  Collin  returned  quietly  into  his  garret  and 
went  to  bed. 

"  Give  me  something  which  will  make  me  very  ill 
without  killing  me,"  said  he  to  Asia, "  for  I  must  be  in 
the  agony  of  death  so  that  I  can  give  no  answer  to 
their  inquisitiveness.  Fear  nothing;  I  am  a  priest,  and 
a  priest  I  shall  remain.  I  have  just  rid  myself,  most 

naturally,  of  one  of  the  few  who  can  detect  me." 

• 

At  seven  o'clock  the  night  before,  Lucien  had  set 
off  post-haste  in  his  carriage,  with  a  passport  which 
he  had  secured  that  very  morning  for  Fontainebleau, 
and  spent  the  night  at  the  last  inn  in  the  direction 
of  Nemours.  Toward  six  o'clock  the  next  morning, 
he  walked  on  alone  through  the  forest,  and  went  as 
far  as  Bouron. 

"It  was  in  that  fatal  spot,"  thought  he,  as  he  sat 


444  SPLENDORS  AND  MISERIES 

down  upon  one  of  those  rocks  which  command  the 
lovely  landscape  of  Bouron,  "that  Napoleon  hoped 
to  make  one  mighty  effort,  on  the  day  before  his 
abdication." 

At  daybreak  he  heard  the  noise  of  a  post-chaise, 
and  saw  a  carriage  pass  him  in  which  he  could  dis- 
tinguish the  servants  of  the  young  Duchess  of 
Lenoncourt-Chaulieu  and  the  waiting  maid  of  Clo- 
tilde  de  Grandlieu. 

"There  they  are,"  thought  Lucien.  "Now  for 
a  successful  comedy,  and  I  am  saved.  I  shall  be 
the  duke's  son-in-law  whether  he  will  or  no." 

An  hour  later  the  closed  carriage,  containing  the 
two  women,  rolled  toward  him  with  that  unmistak- 
able gliding  rumbling  which  heralds  the  approach  of 
a  fashionable  traveling  carriage.  The  two  ladies 
had  given  orders  for  the  carriage  to  stop  on  the  hill 
overlooking  Bouron,  and  the  valet  on  the  dickey 
told  the  coachman  to  halt.  At  this  moment  Lucien 
advanced. 

"  Clotilde!"  he  cried,  tapping  at  the  window. 

"  No,"  said  the  young  duchess  to  her  friend,  "  he 
must  not  get  into  the  carriage;  we  must  not  be 
alone  with  him,  my  dear  girl.  Have  one  last  con- 
versation with  him,  I  consent  to  it;  but  it  shall  be  on 
the  high  road,  where  we  will  go  afoot,  followed  by 
Baptiste.  The  day  is  fine,  we  are  warmly  dressed, 
and  have  nothing  to  fear  from  the  cold.  The  car- 
riage shall  follow  us — " 

The  two  women  stepped  out. 

"Baptiste,"  said  the  young  duchess,  "the  postilion 


HOW  MUCH  LOVE  COSTS  OLD  MEN         445 

will  drive  on  very  slowly;  we  wish  to  walk  for  a 
short  distance,  and  you  will  accompany  us." 

Madeleine  de  Mortsauf  took  her  friend's  arm, 
and  allowed  Lucien  to  talk  with  Clotilde.  They 
walked  along  together  thus  as  far  as  the  little  vil- 
lage of  Grez.  It  was  then  eight  o'clock,  and  there 
Clotilde  bade  Lucien  good-bye. 

"So,  my  friend,"  said  she,  ending  this  long  con- 
versation with  dignity,  "I  shall  never  marry  any- 
body else.  I  prefer  to  believe  in  you  rather  than  in 
other  men;  than  in  my  father  or  my  mother.  Did 
woman  ever  give  a  stronger  proof  of  attachment? 
Now  try  to  dispel  the  fatal  cloud  which  hangs  over 
you." 

The  sound  of  galloping  horses  approached,  and  to 
the  great  astonishment  of  the  two  ladies,  a  company 
of  gendarmes  surrounded  the  little  group. 

"What  do  you  want?"  demanded  Lucien,  with 
all  the  arrogance  of  fashion. 

"You  are  M.  Lucien  de  Rubempre?"  said  the 
Public  Prosecutor  of  Fontainebleau. 

"Yes,  sir." 

"You  will  sleep  to-night  at  the  Force,"  continued 
he.  "I  have  a  warrant  of  arrest  against  you." 

"Who  are  these  ladies?"  exclaimed  the  brigadier. 

"Ah!  yes; — your  pardon,  ladies.  May  I  see  your 
passports?  For  according  to  my  information  M. 
Lucien  has  acquaintances  who,  for  his  sake,  are 
capable  of — " 

"You  take  the  Duchess  de  Lenoncourt-Chaulieu 
for  a  woman  of  the  streets!"  said  Madeleine,  casting 


446  SPLENDORS  AND    MISERIES. 

a  look  well  worthy  of  a  duchess  upon  the  Public 
Prosecutor. 

"You  are  handsome  enough  to  be  a  duchess,"  re- 
plied the  magistrate,  tactfully. 

"Baptiste,  show  our  passports,"  answered  the 
young  duchess,  smiling. 

"Of  what  crime  does  this  gentleman  stand  ac- 
cused?" said  Clotilde,  while  the  duchess  was  en- 
deavoring to  push  her  into  the  carriage. 

"Of  complicity  in  robbery  and  murder,"  replied 
the  brigadier  of  gendarmes. 

Baptiste  lifted  Mademoiselle  de  Grandlieu  in  the 
carriage,  for  she  had  fainted  dead  away. 

At  midnight  Lucien  entered  the  Force,  a  prison 
situated  on  the  corner  of  the  Rue  Payenne  and  the 
Rue  des  Ballets,  where  he  was  placed  in  a  solitary 
cell.  The  Abbe  Carlos  Herrera  had  been  confined 
there  since  his  arrest. 


, 


• 


A     000  824  954 


